AntiWar.com reports: “U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday that its forces attacked and disabled an Iranian-flagged oil tanker, the M/T Hasna, in the Gulf of Oman, which it claimed was attempting to bypass the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports. …
“The U.S. attack comes a day after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that the U.S. is engaged in a ‘defensive operation’ against Iran and that U.S. forces would only shoot if they were shot at first.
“The attack also came after President Trump announced that the U.S. military operation to ‘guide’ commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, dubbed ‘Project Freedom,’ was being paused after just two days.
“The incident marks at least the second time the U.S. military fired on a civilian ship in the Gulf of Oman while enforcing the blockade.”
Rubio also seemed to claim that the U.S. government was not violating international law: “And international law is very clear. And I love it, because everybody always talks about international law on this. International law on this very clear. International waterways – no country can control them.”
JOHN QUIGLEY, [email protected]
Professor emeritus of international law at Ohio State University, Quigley said today: “The M/T Hasna was sailing, as Centcom acknowledges in its formal statement, in international waters when the U.S. Navy fired upon it from the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. Vessels exercising the right of freedom of the seas are not subject to interference by warships of other states. The firing on the M/T Hasna is a violation of international law. The United States owes reparations to Iran for the damage to the ship’s rudder and for the financial harm caused by keeping the ship from completing its voyage.”
His books include The Statehood of Palestine: