Waltz: US Pushing UN Resolution on Iran Over Hormuz
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- Mike Waltz reiterated his push on Sunday for a UN Security Council resolution condemning Iran's shipping restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz, telling ABC's "This Week" that "no country can do what Iran is doing in international waterways" and asking rhetorically whether anyone would tolerate a country doing the same in the Strait of Gibraltar or Malacca.
- Marco Rubio announced Tuesday that the Trump administration — alongside Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar — drafted a UN Security Council resolution to "defend freedom of navigation" in the waterway, requiring Iran to "cease attacks, mining and tolling" and disclose the number and location of sea mines it has laid.
- Iran has restricted shipping in the strait since the US and Israel launched a war on Feb. 28, laying mines, threatening non-allied ships, and imposing tolls — moves that have slowed transit and pushed US gas prices above $4.50 a gallon as of Sunday, according to AAA.
- The draft resolution also demands Iran cooperate with mine-removal efforts and support the establishment of a humanitarian corridor through the waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
- The US Navy has blockaded Iranian ports for weeks and briefly began escorting ships through the strait on Monday, but Trump abandoned the escort venture a day later after it renewed hostilities with Iran and drew opposition from regional allies, notably Saudi Arabia.
Why it matters: The resolution would require Iran to disclose mine locations, cease attacks, and end shipping tolls in a strait whose restrictions since the Feb. 28 US-Israel war have driven gas above $4.50. If the Security Council doesn't act, the US Navy's weeks-long blockade of Iranian ports remains the sole enforcement — and Trump's one-day ship-escort venture was already abandoned after Saudi opposition.
