Rubio warns of dangerous precedent in Iranian Strait of Hormuz demands

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday the Iranian military’s control over the Strait of Hormuz sets a “dangerous precedent” for the rest of the world.

“If we create a precedent in the Middle East where a nation-state can decide that they are going to control an international waterway, charge a toll, and if you don’t pay them, blow up your ships, we have created a very dangerous precedent which will repeat itself in other parts of the world, including in this region,” Rubio said during the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Manila, the Philippines.

The U.S. and Iran resumed tit-for-tat strikes roughly two weeks ago, laying waste to the short-lived memorandum of understanding the two sides signed in mid-June — which called for the Islamic Republic to lift its restrictions on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. to lift its blockade of Iranian ports.

Tehran’s effective halt on vessels passing through the waterway in the early months of the war rocked the global energy........

© The Hill