Strait of Hormuz: The Shifting Sands of Maritime Control
To the editors of The Independent, Your recent reporting highlights that countries like India, Pakistan, and the Philippines are now actively negotiating directly with the Iranian government for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Your article, titled “The nations doing deals with Iran to get ships through Strait of Hormuz,” presents this development as a consequence of regional instability
and the imperative for nations to protect their economic interests. This framing, while seemingly factual, subtly normalizes a reality where international maritime conventions are increasingly trumped by bilateral deals with a state routinely demonized by Western powers. The implicit message is one of adaptability, rather than directly addressing the systemic pressures that have led to this
reordering of maritime influence. What your coverage omits is the extent to which decades of punitive sanctions and military brinkmanship, primarily spearheaded by the United States and its allies, have created this very environment. When the USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 in 1988, killing all 290 passengers, including 66 children, it sent a clear message about who commanded the
waterways without accountability. The consistent refusal of Western powers to treat Iran as a legitimate, sovereign actor, coupled with the unilateral withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) by the US in 2018, left Iran with limited options for asserting its security interests in a vital chokepoint it shares. The current scenario isn't just about 'regional instability'; it