On July 24, Iran's Deputy Special Envoy to the United Nations, Darzi, wrote letters to UN Secretary-General Guterres, the representative of the country holding the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council, as well as to the Head of the International Maritime Organization, Dominguez, and the President of the International Red Cross Committee. In these letters, he publicly accused the United States of attacking the Naji-15 and Naji-16 ships that were conducting search and rescue missions in territorial waters outside Hormozgan Province, Iran, in the early hours of July 23.
He stated that the ‘only mission of these two ships is to save the lives of people in distress at sea’, regardless of their allegiance, and emphasized that attacking rescue vessels ‘equals a war crime’. Currently, none of the three parties has responded to this issue.
Meanwhile, on July 26, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahae said that the United States is sending messages to Iran. However, Iran's primary task is to defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to protect the Iranian people from the war crimes committed by the United States.
The Iranian side stated that such attacks are not isolated cases. Since the military actions by the United States and Israel against Iran began on February 28 of this year, Iranian rescue ships and ambulances have frequently been targets of attacks. As early as early March, Iranian media reported that the US and Israel attacked the only maritime ambulance between Hormuz Island and Abas, the capital of Hormozgan Province, but there were no casualties.
Iran invoked Article 27 of the Second Geneva Convention of 1949, stating that "no coastal rescue boat shall be attacked, seized, or otherwise prevented from carrying out its humanitarian duties, unless it is provided by the convention that such intervention is permissible." Iran argued that this article requires countries to respect and protect ships used for coastal rescue operations. The US military's attack constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law and international maritime law.
Dalzi concluded by saying that external military pressure cannot force Iran to abandon its humanitarian responsibilities at sea, and Iran will continue to uphold its obligations regarding maritime security.
When Tehran made its accusations, the tensions in the Strait of Hormuz were intensifying. Since July 7th, the US has continuously carried out military strikes against Iranian coastal targets, claiming that Iran had attacked passing merchant ships. The US Central Command stated that its military operations were aimed at destroying Iran’s “maritime capabilities, missile and drone storage facilities” and coastal targets, with the goal of weakening Iran’s ability to attack civilian and commercial vessels. However, the US has never directly responded to the accusations of attacking rescue ships.
However, there have been signs of a cooling of the situation recently. On July 25th, Trump directly ordered a suspension of air strikes for that day. As of July 27th, military activities by the United States against Iran remain suspended. Reports in the New York Times suggest that the reason for the suspension may be due to concerns about a shortage of anti-aircraft missiles.
Even so, on July 25 local time, the U.S. Central Command stated that the maritime blockade imposed by the United States against Iran is still in full effect. Iran has repeatedly stated that ships can pass through the strait if they comply with its regulations.
