Draft resolution demands Iran halt attacks, disclose mines, and ensure humanitarian aid passage through the Strait.

Gulf states are pushing a United Nations Security Council resolution that threatens Iran with sanctions and other measures if it does not halt attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, stop imposing “illegal tolls”, and disclose the location of all mines to allow freedom of navigation.

Speaking at the UN on Thursday, top diplomats from Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) stressed the importance of resuming pre-war traffic levels in the narrow waterway through which about a fifth of global energy exports pass in peacetime.

Ensuring the strait remains open is a “demand set forth” by UN conventions, as well as a “shared international responsibility,” said Qatar’s ambassador to the UN, Alya Ahmed Saif al-Thani. The current situation “not only jeopardises global economic stability and energy security but also worsens humanitarian crises and undermines regional stability,” she added.

The three Gulf nations co-drafting the resolution, along with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United States, also demand that Iran “immediately participate in and enable” UN efforts to establish a humanitarian corridor in the strait to deliver vital aid, fertiliser and other goods.

The oil and gas-rich countries have found themselves on the front line of the war between Tehran and Washington. After the US and Israel started attacking Iran in late February, the Islamic Republic has responded by striking energy and civilian infrastructure in neighbouring countries around the Gulf. Iran has also brought traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to a near total standstill, making transit too risky. While Saudi Arabia and the UAE have pipelines to bypass the narrow waterway and allow some exports, other Gulf nations, such as Qatar, have been forced to halt energy exports.

As global gas and oil prices soared, the Trump administration imposed an embargo on Iranian ports, impeding Tehran’s ability to export its oil.

Bahrain’s envoy to the UN, Jamal Alrowaiei, highlighted the need for “collective action” to keep the strait “safe, secure and fully open”.

“The draft resolution is guided by the clear principle: freedom of navigation in accordance with international law.”

Mohammed Issa Abushahab, the UAE’s representative to the UN, added that “international waterways cannot be controlled through coercion, through coercion attacks or threats against civilian and commercial shipping”.

“The resolution demands the disclosure and removal of sea mines placed in and around the Strait of Hormuz. It rejects the imposition of illegal tolls and interference with freedom of navigation and lawful transit passage. It supports the establishment of a humanitarian corridor to facilitate the movement of aid, fertiliser, and other essential goods through the strait,” said Abushahab.

‘A simple demand’

The US envoy to the UN, Mike Waltz, condemned reports that Iran was launching a Persian Gulf Straits Authority, which would impose tolls on ships crossing the waterway, calling the dispersal of seamen in the Strait a “cynical bid for leverage”.

“Collective punishment of the entire world to try to resolve some type of dispute is unacceptable, it’s immoral, and it’s illegal in international law,” he said.

“This should be a simple demand. The removal of mines from an international waterway that you cannot exact illegal tolls. We have to address these violations, here in the council, and we have to ask ourselves if a country chooses to oppose such a simple proposition, do they really want peace,” Waltz said.

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, said navigation will return to normal in the strait if the war ends and the blockade, as well as sanctions against his country, are lifted.

Talking about the draft UN resolution, he added that it ignores the reason for the current situation in the strait, blaming the US’s use of force and attacks on Iran.

A previous Bahraini resolution, which was backed by the US and appeared to open a path to legitimise military action against Iran, failed last month when Russia and China exercised their vetoes in the 15-member Security Council.

The new draft avoids explicit language about authorising force while still operating under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which allows the Security Council to impose measures ranging from sanctions to military action.

Washington reportedly hopes to conclude discussions between Security Council members quickly, with the aim of circulating a final draft of the resolution by Friday and holding a vote early next week, although Russia and China still have a competing text under consideration.