The Kingdom of Bahrain on Monday circulated a draft United Nations Security Council resolution that would authorize member states to employ “all necessary means” — the established diplomatic formulation for the use of military force — to protect commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint upon which the energy security of the industrial world depends. The text, placed under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter and reviewed by Reuters, represents the most forceful multilateral instrument yet advanced to break the Iranian stranglehold on one of the planet’s most consequential waterways.
The draft, according to Reuters, was backed by other Gulf Arab states and the United States, though diplomats cautioned that its adoption remained unlikely given the composition of the Council. The resolution calls Iran’s actions a threat to international peace and security and demands that the Islamic Republic “immediately cease all attacks against merchant and commercial vessels and any attempt to impede lawful transit passage or freedom of navigation in and around the Strait of Hormuz,” according to the text reviewed by Reuters and Arab News.
The Bahraini text would authorize countries, acting alone or through voluntary multinational naval coalitions, to use force in and around the Strait of Hormuz — including within the territorial waters of littoral states bordering the waterway — to secure transit passage and to repress, neutralize, and deter attempts to obstruct international navigation, according to a copy of the draft obtained by The Jerusalem Post. The resolution also expresses the readiness to impose targeted sanctions against actors undermining freedom of navigation, according to Reuters, and stipulates that any actions taken under the mandate must be reported quarterly to the Security Council.
The strategic weight of the waterway under dispute cannot be overstated. The Strait of Hormuz is a chokepoint that carries approximately one-fifth of global oil supplies and underpins the economies of every Gulf state, according to Reuters. Shipping through the passage has ground to a near-halt after Iran struck vessels in its conflict with the United States and Israel, Reuters reported. Iran announced restrictions on navigation in the strait on March 2, warning that vessels attempting to pass without coordination would be targeted, according to Arab News. Oil prices have surged above $108 per barrel amid the disruption, according to Military.com, with the International Energy Agency authorizing a coordinated release of strategic petroleum reserves — the largest in its history — to cushion the blow.
Two European and one Western diplomat told Reuters there was little prospect of the resolution being adopted, as Iran’s allies Russia and China were likely to veto the text if brought to a vote. A resolution requires at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the five permanent members — Russia, China, the United States, Britain, and France — to pass the fifteen-member body. The Russian and Chinese missions to the United Nations were not immediately available for comment, Reuters reported.
France, exercising the prerogatives of a permanent Council member, circulated a rival draft resolution on Monday evening that charted a markedly different course. The French text, also seen by Reuters, makes no mention of Iran and is not placed under Chapter VII. It calls on all parties to refrain from further escalation, urges a cessation of ongoing hostilities in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Gulf of Oman, and calls for a return to diplomacy, according to Reuters. Rather than authorizing the use of force, the French draft encourages states with an interest in commercial maritime routes to coordinate strictly defensive efforts to ensure navigation safety, including through the escort of merchant and commercial vessels, in full respect of international law including the law of the sea.
President Emmanuel Macron, who has advocated for a United Nations framework governing any action in the Hormuz, has refused to participate in immediate operations to secure the Strait, insisting that international efforts could proceed only once hostilities calm and with Iran’s consent, Reuters reported. Axios reported that Macron had initially opposed any coalition statement on the strait, and was persuaded to join a political declaration only after conversations with NATO Secretary General Marc Rutte and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with the understanding that practical steps would be discussed later.
The Bahraini resolution arrives at the Security Council with significant political momentum behind it. A coalition of twenty-two nations issued a joint statement last week expressing readiness to contribute to efforts securing passage through the strait, according to Arab News. The signatories included the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and numerous European and Nordic countries, according to the joint statement published by the British government. The coalition condemned Iranian attacks on unarmed commercial vessels and civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations, and the de facto closure of the strait by Iranian forces.
Yet the joint statement, as Axios noted, contained no specific commitments to deploy naval vessels or other resources. France, Germany, Italy, and Japan had all previously ruled out sending warships to the strait during active hostilities, according to Axios. The gap between political declarations and operational commitment remains a central challenge for the emerging coalition — a fact that is not lost on Washington.
The United States, for its part, is not waiting for the Council to act. Three U.S. officials told Reuters that 2,500 Marines, along with the USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship, and accompanying warships would deploy to the region. The Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, which also includes the USS Portland and USS Comstock, departed San Diego carrying elements of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, according to USNI News. The deployment follows the earlier dispatch of the USS Tripoli and its amphibious ready group carrying the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit from the Pacific, according to USNI News. Two officials told Reuters that no decision had been made on whether to send troops into Iran itself, while sources previously told Reuters that possible targets could include Iran’s coast or the Kharg Island oil export hub.
Daniel Forti, head of UN affairs at the International Crisis Group, told The National that Bahrain’s draft reflects how regional states and their partners view the Strait of Hormuz as a pressing security and economic concern. The draft builds upon UN Security Council Resolution 2817, adopted on March 11 with only Russia and China abstaining, which called on Iran to halt threats and provocations affecting maritime trade in the strait, according to the Soufan Center.
The diplomatic architecture now taking shape at Turtle Bay reveals the fault lines that have defined great-power competition since the Cold War — but with stakes that reach directly into every American household through the price of energy. China, which did not sign the twenty-two-nation joint statement, may be benefiting from years of cooperation with Tehran; Iran has reportedly allowed ships bound for China through the strait unmolested, according to the Soufan Center. China is the largest buyer of Iranian oil, and approximately forty percent of all Chinese crude oil imports and thirty percent of its imported liquefied natural gas typically flow through the waterway, the Soufan Center reported. India, too, has negotiated a separate accord with Tehran under which three of its warships escort Indian energy shipments from the Gulf, according to the same analysis.
The parallel texts now before the Security Council crystallize two competing theories of international order: one that identifies the aggressor, invokes the Charter’s enforcement provisions, and authorizes the assembled nations to act with force; and another that avoids naming names, counsels restraint, and hopes diplomacy will prevail once the guns fall silent. For the United States, whose Navy has patrolled these waters for decades, whose allies depend upon the uninterrupted flow of Gulf energy, and whose Marines are at this hour steaming toward the theater, the question posed by these competing resolutions is not abstract. It is operational, immediate, and consequential for every dimension of American power.