UNCLOS and the Transit Passage Regime

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), adopted in 1982 and in force since 1994, establishes a distinct legal regime for international straits under Part III (Articles 34–45). Unlike innocent passage (applicable in territorial seas), "transit passage" rights in international straits cannot be suspended by coastal states. Article 44 explicitly bars bordering states from hampering transit passage. This regime was designed precisely to prevent chokepoint powers from extorting international commerce.

However, the legal architecture faces practical limits. Iran signed UNCLOS but never ratified it, meaning it does not consider itself bound by the treaty's transit passage provisions. Iran's own 1993 Maritime Areas Law requires prior permission for warships, submarines, and nuclear-powered vessels to exercise even innocent passage through Iranian territorial waters — a provision that directly conflicts with UNCLOS Article 38.