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TORONTO: The Gulf is facing its most severe security crisis in decades, Bahrain\u2019s foreign minister told the UN General Assembly on Friday, accusing Iran of carrying out \u201cwaves of unjustified attacks\u201d on Arab states.<\/p>\n
The attacks \u2014 which involve ballistic missiles and drones aimed at civilian infrastructure, residential areas, ports, airports and energy facilities \u2014 are \u201cindiscriminate\u201d and a \u201cflagrant violation of international law and the UN Charter,\u201d Abdullatif Al-Zayani said.<\/p>\n
He also condemned attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi militia on civilian and Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia, as well as threats to freedom of navigation in the Bab Al-Mandab Strait and the Red Sea.<\/p>\n
Al-Zayani said Bahrain \u201crenews its full solidarity\u201d with the countries affected, praising Gulf states\u2019 defense forces for their handling of the attacks and reaffirming their right to self-defense under international law.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The right of transit through the Strait of Hormuz is guaranteed to all states under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and cannot be suspended, obstructed or made subject to unilateral conditions, he stressed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bahrain \u201ccategorically rejects\u201d any permit or fee regime imposed on the passage and \u201cthe use of international waterways as instruments of pressure, economic coercion or any attempt at the seizure of vessels,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch actions would set an extremely dangerous precedent because what\u2019s accepted today in one strait may be demanded tomorrow in every international waterway upon which global trade depends.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe right of passage doesn\u2019t cease to exist because alternatives are available, nor does the violation cease just because those affected have found ways to reduce the loss.\u201d<\/p>\n
The threat is not confined to the Strait of Hormuz but extends to Bab Al-Mandab, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, which are all part of the same system, he added.<\/p>\n
Passage restrictions, along with the targeting of commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and mines laid in an international shipping lane, have a ripple effect extending beyond the Arabian Gulf \u2014 driving up energy and food prices, shipping and insurance costs, and disrupting supply chains worldwide, he said.<\/p>\n
A waterway is much more than a \u201csecurity issue\u201d for coastal countries; it is an \u201cartery of development through which the food, medicine and energy of entire nations flow,\u201d Al-Zayani added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen a single waterway is disrupted, the cost is felt by a family in a country that doesn\u2019t have a coastline.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201ctest of the UN\u2019s credibility isn\u2019t only confined to our waters,\u201d Al-Zayani said, reaffirming Bahrain\u2019s support for an independent, geographically contiguous Palestinian state living alongside Israel in peace and security.<\/p>\n
He also expressed Bahrain\u2019s support for Syria\u2019s unity and territorial integrity, and for lifting sanctions to help Syrians rebuild.<\/p>\n
He called for an immediate ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access in Sudan, and renewed support for a UN-led political solution in Yemen under the country\u2019s legitimate government.<\/p>\n
\u00a0He closed by saying the UN needs \u201cnot more resolutions, but a greater capacity to implement them. A resolution adopted but not implemented has no value, and a right that\u2019s recognized but not protected has no value or meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n