One month into the war on Iran which broke out on 28 February, and Tehran has intensified its diplomatic offensives in a bid to prove that Israel and U.S. have lost control of the war.
To assert its sovereignty, a parliamentary committee has approved a draft bill to impose tolls on the strategic waterway of Strait of Hormuz, according to Parliament website ICANA.
"Iran is going to establish the security of the Strait of Hormuz from now on, and for this establishment of security which is considered a form of service provision, it will charge fees," Chairman of Article 90 Committee Nasrollah Pezhmanfar was quoted saying.
Strait of Hormuz is not blocked, the senior parliamentarian added, “rather restricted to hostile enemy ship”.
Over the weekend, Iranian MPs proposed two urgent draft bills for discussion at the plenary sessions on withdrawing from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as well as on excising environment pollution taxes and charging pilotage service fees.
In a related development, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke with his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot over the phone and stressed that “any provocative action by the aggressors and their supporters, including in the United Nations Security Council, regarding the Strait of Hormuz will only complicate the situation”.
“This waterway is closed to vessels of parties involved in military aggression against Iran, and this decision was made based on the principles of international law and in order to prevent aggressors from misusing the Strait of Hormuz to carry out illegal attacks against Iran,” a Foreign Ministry news release quoted him saying.
“At the same time, the passage of vessels belonging to other countries is being carried out in coordination with the competent Iranian authorities,” Iran’s top diplomat added.
In New York, Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Amir-Saeid Iravani, sent a letter directly to the Secretary General and Security Council condemning Ukraine's admission that Kyiv has sent "hundreds of experts" to the region to confront Iran.
“It is material and operational support for the military aggression led by the U.S. and the Israeli regime, as well as active participation in the illegal use of force against a country,” read the letter available on Iran-UN mission’s website.
Also in four separate letters to the UN, the Iranian envoy strongly protested again about the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait providing territory available for attacks against Iran.
With dim prospects of deescalation, Iravani urged Iran’s neighbouring Persian Gulf states to prevent the continued use of their countries by "the aggressors".
Referring to Iran’s targeting of U.S. bases in the region, he added, "Our operation is aimed at an aggressive enemy that neither respects Arabs nor Iranians nor is capable of providing security."
“Just look at what we did to their air command. The time has come to expel American forces,” he said.
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