Iran’s attacks on neutral shipping and potential mining of the Strait of Hormuz violate both the law of the sea and the law of armed conflict—and reveal how difficult those rules are to enforce in practice.
The Strait of Hormuz — a narrow chokepoint through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil transits — is now an active conflict zone. Iranian forces have struck multiple neutral merchant vessels and may be laying naval mines in the Strait, threatening one of the most important shipping routes in the global economy.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has told the world that “we don’t need to worry about it.”