Marco Rubio used his opening remarks at the ASEAN meeting in Manila on Wednesday to warn about a world in which a nation-state decides to control an international waterway, charges a toll, and blows up the ships that refuse to pay. He was describing something that has been operating for five months.

Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz on February 28, the day American and Israeli aircraft opened the war. What came next was not a blockade in the old sense. Intermediaries linked to the Revolutionary Guard began quoting prices, reportedly up to $2 million a voyage, with clearance confirmed by radio. Ships that pay, sail. That is not a siege. That is a business.

Last week's news in the Red Sea is a different animal wearing similar clothes, and most of the commentary has run the two together. The Saudi-flagged product tanker Encelia caught fire after being struck southwest of Al Shuqaiq on Wednesday. Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesman, said his forces had hit two Saudi tankers for violating a ban. That ban is an embargo on Saudi ports, announced on Monday and delivered by email to shipping companies, in retaliation for a Saudi strike on Sanaa airport. Nobody in Sanaa is collecting a fee. It is a belligerent act inside a twelve-year war, and the Houthis have not asked for a cent.

The distinction is the whole story. Embargoes end when wars end. Prices, once established,........

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