Europe considering proposals to allow navigational fees in strait of Hormuz

Donald Trump has once again warned that the US will return to “strong military action” against Iran if diplomatic efforts do not bring a rapid resolution to the crisis in the Middle East. “We are in very deep talks with Iran. If they don’t work out, we will go back to very strong military action,” the US president told Axios on Monday. Asked for how long he would allow the talks to proceed, he answered: “Not much time. Either it goes fast or not at all.” Earlier, Tehran said there were no direct talks with the US to end the conflict, which began in late February with a wave of US-Israeli strikes and has rocked the region and the global economy. “Mediators may convey messages from the American side to us regarding current developments in the region. But at present we are not engaged in any negotiations with the United States,” said the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei. View image in fullscreen President Donald Trump said diplomatic efforts did not have much time to succeed. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP The diplomatic back and forth came as Oman and Iran drew closer to an agreement in principle on the future management of the strait of Hormuz, but remained unable to resolve Tehran’s demand that all ships passing through the strategic waterway must pay some type of transit fee or toll to a consortium led by the two countries. Oman and Iran met for technical talks in Tehran on Friday and Saturday that may hold the key to preventing a further round of fighting. Perceived progress in the talks – backed by China, Qatar and Pakistan – was understood to have fed into the US decision to pause its attacks on Iran after nearly two weeks. Senior US officials are also reported to have warned Trump over dwindling US munitions stockpiles and the impact of Iranian reprisals on US bases in the region, including Kuwait, and Jordan. The top US military commander in the Middle East, Adm Brad Cooper, reportedly recommended stopping the bombing campaign around the strait because it had reached the limit of its effectiveness. The US attacks have been described by Washington as a response to repeated Iranian breaches of the memorandum of understanding signed in June, including by trying to prevent commercial shipping from transiting the strait through a southern route overseen by the US. Iran argues the southern route breaks the ceasefire agreement, which it insists left the country in sole charge of how the strait was reopened. A diplomat said: “The aim of the Tehran talks is to marry the Iran and Oman proposals so what emerges is clearly compliant with the law of the sea, and internationally acceptable.” At a Tehran press conference, Baqaei denied that the pause in US fighting amounted to an informal ceasefire. Oman has been trying since May to persuade Tehran that any plan for charging fees in the strait must be voluntary, to comply with the law of the sea. It has proposed a model similar to that which governs the strait of Malacca: countries that use it voluntarily contribute to a fund that provides for environmental and safety services to shipping. Oman argues that a similar entity could be set up in the strait of Hormuz with the agreement of the UN and the International Maritime Organization. The IMO secretary general, Arsenio Dominguez, has told the Guardian that the Malacca strait model is worth considering for the strait of Hormuz. View image in fullscreen The top US military commander in the Middle East, Adm Brad Cooper, reportedly recommended stopping the bombing campaign because it has reached the limit of its effectiveness. Photograph: Cristóbal Herrera/EPA Iran’s department of environment has drafted its own plan, under which “the annual passage of over 50,000 ships and oil tankers through the strait of Hormuz and their role in polluting the Persian Gulf” must be compensated for. Under the plan, Iran would be able to collect “fees” from passing vessels proportional to the type of ship, cargo volume, navigation history and history of pollution. The comparison between the straits of Malacca and Hormuz is imperfect since fewer ships see ports in the Malacca strait as a destination point. But the Iranian media appear increasingly drawn to the Malacca model. The Khabaronline news agency argued such an agreement would be “a win-win situation for Iran”. Baqaei described the talks with Oman as useful and constructive but said they had nothing to do with the US. “The goal is for Iran and Oman, as two coastal states, to develop mechanisms to ensure safe shipping in the strait of Hormuz, while respecting the sovereign rights of the two coastal states and also preserving Iran’s security and national interests,” he said. Oman is in a tight spot since it knows the US is opposed to the introduction of tolls, but it may accept a very clearly delineated system of fees for specific services. The talks come as the US continues to encourage commercial shipping to test the strength of the Iranian blockade of the strait. Iranian officials reported that six vessels with their navigation systems switched off attempted to pass through the southern route of the strait on Sunday. One of them was fired upon and the others were turned back to the Persian Gulf. The US has reimposed a blockade of Iranian oil exports and ended a sanctions waiver on its oil exports. The United Nations Office for Project Services said on Monday that transits through the strait of Hormuz had fallen to an average of approximately five ships a day over the past week, compared with nearly 130 a day before the war.

Europe is studying proposals that may allow the charging of navigational fees in the strait of Hormuz so long as the tolls are not compulsory and have the support of the UN agency that regulates maritime transport. Britain’s deputy prime minister, David Lammy, said the imposition of compulsory tolls would be disastrous. But some of his cabinet colleagues said they recognised that systems of payments for specific navigational services were permissible in many natural waterways, including the strait of Malacca and the Channel. It comes as US officials demanded Iran make a public statement saying the strait of Hormuz is open and that ships using the vital corridor won’t be attacked any more. The US officials blamed power struggles inside Tehran for the difficulty in reaching and adhering to a deal. Donald Trump reiterated on social media on Friday that he viewed the interim ceasefire deal as “over” but that the US would continue talks aimed at reaching a permanent end to the war. Hours later, the US president later made fresh threats against Iran should it seek to assassinate him, saying “1000 missiles are locked and loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran”. A proposal for the strait that adapts the principles from the strait of Malacca has already been developed by Oman in conjunction with British lawyers. Muscat has now offered to send its legal experts to Tehran to explain the plan in detail. Iranian state media reported on Friday that foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi would travel to Oman on Saturday for talks about the strait. The visit “will be focused on the strait of Hormuz and shipping safety” and is “a continuation of the consultations that we started with Oman over the past one or two months,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei as saying. Oman controls most of the navigable waters in the strait and opposes a compulsory toll. Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Majed al-Ansari, said: “Giving the Iranians sovereignty over the strait in a way that contradicts international maritime law will be basically agreeing to be hostages to whatever radical element that wants to take over the strait at any time.” But the scale of Oman’s alternative scheme may not match the ambitions of the Iranians, especially the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. One diplomat said: “There are sections of the IRGC that say the US launched an unlawful attack on them in February, so why should they bother with the international law of the sea? Others want to cooperate. There is a division in Tehran.” Iran is also under pressure from regional states to clarify its proposals, and whether the fees would in effect be compulsory. The Iranian embassy in London said it was interested in proposals prepared independently by the Energy Policy Research Group. View image in fullscreen Tugboats guide a tanker carrying UAE crude after passing through the strait of Hormuz in May. Photograph: Kim Soo-hyeon/Reuters The paper argued that a transparent service fee embedded within an inclusive regional order would incentivise all sides to cooperate, adding that the plan was not a crude toll imposed on ships just for passing through the strait. Speaking at a meeting of the International Maritime Organization council on Thursday in London, the Oman delegate Khamis bin Mohammed Al Shamakhi said: “The right of transit passage through straits used for international navigation is guaranteed under international law and does not support the imposition of transit fees on vessels passing through the strait of Hormuz.” However, he added that Oman saw value in exploring voluntary arrangements “relating to navigational support services that could further enhance maritime safety and security, protect the marine environment, reduce the risk of pollution and strengthen preparedness for maritime emergencies, including collisions and fires on board of ships and tankers”. Behind these remarks is detailed work by Oman on the governorship of the strait of Malacca that links the Indian and Pacific oceans. A report to the IMO council on the cooperative mechanism for the straits of Malacca and Singapore said more than 120,000 vessels transit the strait annually. The mechanism “has evolved into a structured and inclusive platform through which emerging risks, technological developments and environmental priorities in the straits may be collectively addressed”, the report added. Voluntary contributions, notably by Japan, keep the mechanism working. View image in fullscreen LNG tankers in the strait of Malacca. A proposal adapting the Malacca principles to Hormuz has already been developed by Oman. Photograph: Fazry Ismail/EPA At the London meeting, an alliance of some Gulf and European states pressed for a resolution condemning Iran for seeking to control the strait of Hormuz by attacking ships. The motion was not supported by Russia or China. skip past newsletter promotion Free newsletter | Every weekday Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters Preview latest Enter your email Sign up after newsletter promotion Russia said the confrontational motion completely ignored the root causes of the crisis, while China described the text as one-sided, and going beyond the IMO mandate. The motion came after the US hit more than 150 targets mainly in the south of Iran this week, in an attempt to destroy the Iranians’ ability to harass shipping with drones, missiles and small boats. Iran has responded by hitting US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain. One diplomat said there were two reasons for the renewed fighting. One concerned the disputed control of the strait during its reopening and the other was the long-term management of the waterway, including whether Malacca provided a model that would be acceptable to Iran. Clause 5 of the memorandum of understanding (MoU), the ceasefire negotiation roadmap signed by Washington and Tehran last month, committed Iran to make its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial efforts through the strait with no charge for 60 days only. Once technical and military obstacles had been removed, traffic of commercial vessels would be “instated” within 30 days. The US has claimed the MoU did not mean ships could pass the strait only with Iran’s permission and only on routes specified by Tehran. Separately, the memorandum committed Iran to hold talks on a long-term plan for the strait with Oman. In a statement on Thursday, the IRGC navy claimed it had in fact met the MoU commitments, as it interpreted them. The IMO secretary general, Arsenio Dominquez, believed he had won Iran’s agreement to the southern route that would allow thousands of stranded sailors to evacuate the strait, but, if there was an agreement, Tehran rescinded its approval, forcing the UN agency to suspend its plan. The US nevertheless continued to encourage commercial traffic ships to use the southern route. US Central Command claims that since early May US forces “have helped facilitate the successful transit of more than 800 commercial vessels and 380m barrels of crude oil through the vital international trade corridor”. The IRGC navy said: “We reiterate that foreigners have no role in this land or the strait of Hormuz.” Diplomats are now examining whether Tehran is insisting all ships use the northern route close to Iran to clear the backlog of vessels or is simply requiring that all ships seek permission of the country and its Persian Gulf Strait Authority to use the southern route.