The Iranian Ship Panic and the 'Rules-Based Order'

Calling for “direct action” (i.e., acts of war) against these ships because of the supposed threat posed by their speedboats is insane, and we should be clear about that.

James Stavridis just casually calls for the U.S. to commit acts of war against Iran so that their navy won’t be able to deliver their dreaded speedboats to Venezuela:

If the U.S. was willing to seize Iranian oil shipments for violating sanctions last year, it should be prepared to take direct action to stop [bold mine-DL] these small but lethal machines of war from being delivered to a corrupt and dangerous regime in Caracas.

It should go without saying that the U.S. has no right to interfere with the passage of these ships through international waters to another country. The fact that the U.S. has seized vessels carrying Iranian oil as part of our illegitimate “maximum pressure” campaign does not magically grant us the right to stop or attack naval vessels from other states just because we feel like it. As the world’s largest exporter of weapons, the U.S. is hardly in a position to object to arms sales by other states. Calling for “direct action” (i.e., acts of war) against these ships because of the supposed threat posed by their speedboats is insane, and we should be clear about that.

Taking “direct action” against these ships would be a flagrant violation of international law. Cornell Overfield explains:

However, any U.S. action against these vessels would be unlawful and undermine a core tenet of the international order: sovereign immunity. The costs of direct action would be severe, exposing the United States to charges of hypocrisy toward the rules-based order and potentially opening U.S. naval vessels to similar treatment by adversaries.

If the U.S. wants to discredit its rhetoric about the “rules-based order” even more than it already has, it should follow Stavridis’ recommendation. If it wants to retain even the slightest credibility when it speaks about international law and freedom of navigation, it should let these ships go on their way without hindrance. It speaks volumes about the depth of the hawks’ Iran obsession and their contempt for international law that they are prepared to trample on all of that over something as unimportant as these ships.