The Trump administration is reviving an imperial application of international law as part of its efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Although it openly denigrates the idea of a rules-based international order, the U.S. government is claiming that Iran must follow international law as it concerns shipping through the strait. Trying to prevent Iran from establishing tolls, the Trump administration is characterizing the strait as an international waterway that must remain open to shipping. Rather than committing to international law, however, it is applying the imperial rule: countries must follow the rules as they are understood by the United States or risk serious consequences, including annihilation .
“There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,” Trump wrote on social media last month. “If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”
Power Politics
Since entering office, the second Trump administration has embraced power politics. Openly flouting international law, the administration has repeatedly used force in international affairs. It has committed illegal extrajudicial murders in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, conducted an illegal military intervention in Venezuela, and directed an illegal attack against Iran. The Trump administration is facilitating genocide in Gaza.
With its predilection for power politics, the administration has shown little interest in the idea of a rules-based international order. Although the concept has long functioned as a useful cover for American hegemony, as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney explained earlier this year, the Trump administration has largely discarded it.
High-level officials in the Trump administration have made criticisms of a rules-based international order. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has described the phrase as “ an overused term .” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has ridiculed the concept, including it among “ cloud-castle abstractions ” and “ empty globalist rhetoric .”
The president has also signaled his opposition. In an interview with The New York Times earlier this year, Trump expressed disdain for global rules. “I don’t need international law,” he said.
Challenges in Iran
Despite the Trump administration’s rejection of international law and its embrace of power politics, it has faced significant limits to its power, especially in Iran. Since it coordinated with Israel to attack Iran and assassinate the country’s leadership earlier this year, it has experienced multiple challenges.
Iran has put up strong resistance. Despite experiencing major losses to its leadership and infrastructure, Iran has prevented the United States and Israel from achieving regime change. It has directed major counterattacks that have caused extensive damage to energy infrastructure and U.S. military bases across the Middle East, resulting in significant losses for the United States and its allies.
Iran has also wielded leverage over the Strait of Hormuz , one of the world’s most critical waterways. By taking control of the strait, it has made it far more difficult for U.S. allies in the Middle East to export oil and natural gas to global energy markets, leading to price increases and energy shortages, especially in Asia.
The Trump administration has succumbed to Iranian pressure by pushing for a deal to cease hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but it has failed to restore the prewar status quo. Iran retains significant control over the strait, influencing how many ships pass through the strait on a daily basis.
A New Approach
Given that both Iran and Oman are now moving to create a ship payment system , the Trump administration is trying a new approach. Using a tactic that is often employed by advocates of a rules-based international order, the Trump administration is describing the strait as an international waterway that must remain open to shipping.
Administration officials began laying the foundation for its new approach after the UN Security Council passed a resolution in March that included a statement reaffirming navigational rights and freedoms under international law. Although the Trump administration did not call attention to the statement, it began taking a similar position once Iran started charging tolls .
“It’s international water,” Trump said in April. If Iran is charging tolls, “we’re not going to let that happen.”
Reinforcing the president’s position, Hegseth presented the administration’s policy as a matter of keeping the strait open for shipping. “This is about freedom of navigation,” Hegseth said in May. “This is about international waterways.”
While Trump and Hegseth only gestured at international law, however, Rubio made the connection explicit, demanding that Iran follow the rules.
“No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway,” Rubio said in June. “That’s existing international law. That’s the way it is in international waterways all over the world, and that’s the way we expect it’ll be here.”
A Power Play
Although the Trump administration is now appealing to international law, it is not trying to revive the concept of a rules-based international order. Making a maneuver that is consistent with power politics, it is citing rules as a way of demanding submission from Iran.
The Trump administration’s power play can be seen in its interpretation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the international treaty that requires transit passage through straits used for international navigation. Although the Trump administration demands Iranian compliance, it ignores multiple complications that undermine its own appeals to international law.
One is that Iran has never ratified the treaty. The Iranian government insists that it has a legitimate right to impose its own controls on the strait.
Another is that the United States has refrained from ratifying the treaty as well. Although multiple former U.S. officials have called for ratification, the U.S. government has never joined UNCLOS.
In some parts of the world, the United States is openly defying the treaty. The U.S. military is flouting the treaty’s rules about freedom of navigation in the compact states. The Trump administration is also ignoring the treaty’s rules about seabed mining in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, where it is seeking critical minerals.
The administration’s power play is further demonstrated by the fact that the president continues to threaten Iran with multiple illegal actions. At the same time that the president gestures toward international law, he threatens to attack Iran, take over the strait, and impose his own tolls on the waterway.
“There will be NO TOLLS… unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America,” Trump wrote on social media last month.
In short, the Trump administration is applying the imperial rule. Rather than committing to international law, it is ordering Iran to submit to U.S. demands or risk further attacks. Despite all the damage that it has already done, the Trump administration is continuing to act with the utmost imperial belligerence, calling for the strait to be internationalized without committing the United States to internationalism, just as it is demanding that Iran accept a peace deal without committing the United States to peace.
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