Executive Summary

The Strait of Hormuz crisis of 2026, arising from the US-Israel military campaign against Iran, and the US military operations against Venezuela that began the previous year, raise some of the most complex and consequential legal questions in contemporary energy law. This article examines the law-of-the-sea and law-of-naval-warfare questions these events raise, in four parts. Section II considers the status of transit passage through the Strait under UNCLOS, the lawfulness of Iranian attacks on neutral shipping, the legality and continuing enforcement of the US naval blockade of ...