Strait of Hormuz tolls would impact on freedom of navigation – law expert

Foreign Minister Winston Peters (left) meets with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with the Middle East conflict high on their agenda. Photo / Supplied

By Lillian Hanly of RNZ

A law professor is warning of the impact on freedom of navigation if tolls are imposed on ships trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz or Iran retains control of it.

University of Waikato professor Al Gillespie said if the US President Donald Trump was willing to give up a principle of “fundamental importance” to New Zealand, the country needed to speak out about it.

It came as Foreign Minister Winston Peters told RNZ a toll did not fit the right of people to “transit safely on the high seas without fear or encumberance”.

On Wednesday, Trump said he had agreed to suspend a devastating attack on Iran by two weeks and was ready for a ceasefire in the war if Tehran completely reopened the vital Strait of Hormuz.

The US, Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire, with talks planned in Pakistan from Saturday.

No official version of Iran’s 10-point plan for peace had been publicised, but a summary of the regime’s demands, shared by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, included two points about the Strait of Hormuz.

Media reports showed one of those was a proposal to allow Iran to charge a fee per ship.

A fragile ceasefire had persisted, but Gillespie told RNZ a lot of the focus was on the Strait of Hormuz. He said there was an understanding about vessels being able to navigate through the strait, which was good. But he said there was “ambiguity” over whether there would be a toll on those ships, or if the transit would be controlled by Iran.

“For a country like New Zealand, which relies strongly on freedom of navigation, it may be that Trump’s now willing to give up something which is of fundamental importance to us as a principle.

“If this is so, we need to speak out about freedom of navigation, and we need to be thinking which other countries or which other groups are focusing on this part of international law.”

Freedom of navigation stipulates that ships flying sovereign flags shall not suffer interference from other states.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was asked about the issue after the news of the ceasefire, and he said the ceasefire needed to “take effect” and “hold”.

“For us, the freedom of navigation is really important,” Luxon said on Wednesday.

“If you think about what could then subsequently happen with taxes on all sorts of bodies of water that New Zealand uses, very critically, to move its exports around the world. That’s not something we want to see happen.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon highlighted the potential consequences for exports if tolls were implemented, urging a focus on a lasting ceasefire. Photo / Mark Mitchell

But Luxon said there was a long way to go and it was a “complex conflict”.

“I actually think that conversation is just way too premature and a bit hypothetical for where we sit right now,” Luxon said in response to a question about whether consumers would end up footing the bill for tolls in the Strait of Hormuz.

“We just want to focus the players on making sure that they do everything they can to get a ceasefire in place that holds for two weeks.”

Peters was also asked about the issue after his meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday.

Speaking on Morning Report, he said there were various options being suggested with regard to the ceasefire and opening the Strait of Hormuz.

“Those options are not any more important than other suggestions for solutions that people might have, and so it’d be wrong to judge them as being appropriate,” said Peters.

“Right now we don’t know the detail of what they’re saying on that matter.”

He said New Zealand supported the Law of the Sea for decades, and there was currently a “serious breach” of that principle.

“If you’re going to start tolling the right of people to transit safely on the high seas without fear or encumbrance – that’s what it’s about – and a toll does not fit that.”

On Thursday, Gillespie told RNZ the highlight from the meeting between Peters and Rubio was the emphasis of the dependency of the Pacific on energy imports and their vulnerability.

“To bring this to the attention of Rubio and hope to get some assistance for our Pacific friends and neighbours was highly commendable,” Gillespie said.

Iran’s push to toll vessels using the Strait of Hormuz could impact ships carrying exports from New Zealand. Photo / Getty Images

However, he said it was a “missed opportunity” to voice concerns over the “extreme rhetoric and instability that Mr Trump is causing”. But he imagined those concerns were conveyed behind closed doors.

He said the reaffirmation of the friendship between New Zealand and the US was always good to do, even though it was difficult at the moment “because Mr Trump is so unpredictable”.

He said the challenge was when there were wider issues at play, and trying to differentiate between what was in New Zealand’s interests and not being offensive to the US.

“I think we’re walking a very fine line. The thing about New Zealand right now is that we were in a bit of a muddle, and we’re not quite sure which objectives we’re trying to secure and what’s the foremost concern.”

He referenced concerns about the legality or illegality of the war, concerns about freedom of navigation, concerns about nuclear proliferation and energy prices,

“Everything’s kind of getting muddled. People need to take a step back and divide the topics up individually so we can work out where New Zealand’s interests lie. Because it’s not just about trying to pick a side, it’s about trying to work out what an independent foreign policy looks like, and then furthering that.”

He referred to the Strait of Hormuz and the need for New Zealand to “speak out about freedom of navigation”, and the need to be thinking about which other countries or groups were focusing on that part of international law.

– RNZ