US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned on Thursday that Iranian tolls on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz would risk “complete chaos” as it could spread to other waterways.
“International waterways do not belong to any nation-state. It is a fundamental principle of the world today, without which the world would be in complete chaos,” he told the Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in Bahrain.
He said, “If, in fact, we accepted that you can charge money to use an international waterway because it is close to your territorial area, then, well, it would spread like a contagion all over the world.”
Rubio is on a three-nation Gulf tour – his first regional visit since the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding last week to work toward a permanent end to the Middle East war.
Tehran has on more than one occasion put forward the view that the Strait of Hormuz should be controlled by countries in the region, including the Gulf states, who could potentially collect fees from ships passing through it.
Rubio says US wants deal with Iran, but ‘not at any cost’
The top US diplomat also said Washington wants a peace deal with Tehran but not “at any cost”.
“Although we want a deal, we don’t want a deal at any cost,” he said. “We want a deal that’s good, we want a deal that’s real, we want a deal that’s verifiable, and we want a deal that’s enforced.”
Rubio also sought to reassure Gulf allies that their interests would be taken into account.
“We want to ensure…that there is no part of this deal that in any way undermines the security, stability or prosperity of any of our partners in the Gulf region,” he said.
In response to the US-Israeli attacks on Iran that began on February 28, Tehran launched missiles and drones at Gulf countries that host US military bases, including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain – all three countries on Rubio’s regional tour.