What motivated the USPresident Donald Trumpto order the naval blockade of Iran? RussianForeign Minister Sergey Lavrovtold France’s public television broadcaster in an interview recently that the Trump administration was moving in the direction ofseizing control of Iran’s oil and gas reserves.
To read this article in the following languages, click theTranslate Websitebutton below the author’s name.
Farsi, Español, Hebrew, عربي, Русский, Portugues, 中文,Français, Deutsch, Italiano, 日本語,한국어, Türkçe, Српски. And 40 more languages.
“Venezuela is a stark example. The claim was that the drug traffickers’ regime must be taken down. The bottom line is that the United States is taking control of Venezuela’s oil industry. The same is now happening with Iran,” Lavrov alleged.
That was one clever remark, given Russia’s deep interest in partnering with Iran’s oil and gas sector rather than competing. The cascading oil price brought windfall profits to Russia in dozens of billions of dollars on the one hand while also compelling Washington to ease the sanctions on the other hand to facilitate additional flow of Russian oil that was good for the market.
Tehran has taken note of the Venezuelan analogy. In a wide-ranging televised interview broadcast yesterday, the powerful Speaker ofIran’s MajlisMohammad Bagher Ghalibaf,a pivotal figure in the country’s leadership, inter alia noted,
“Theenemy believed Iran was like Venezuelaand assumed that after a few days it could seize our oil and allow anyone wishing to transport oil from the Persian Gulf to do so.”
How far off the mark are the Indian analysts who wax eloquently that the Hormuz issue is all aboutPax Americana— the rules-based order, freedom of navigation and open trade, open sea lanes, stable trade routes. Sheer naiveté!
The geopolitics of the Strait of Hormuz is plain to see. First, some clarity is needed as regards the Law of the Sea which does provide for freedom of navigation through territorial waters. But do not ignore willfully that such freedom is also to be exercised in accordance with the regulations of the coastal parties, the littoral states that border the waterway.
Iran maintains that it is enforcing its regulations. There are no international waters where the sea lanes pass, and Iran’s territorial waters go to the midpoint of the waterway — and even beyond where it overlaps Oman’s territorial waters. (Hence Iran and Oman’s shared interest in the Hormuz strait.)
Source: Global Research
