AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): The representatives of China and Russia, during the review of the UAE's proposed document on developments in the Strait of Hormuz at the 137th session of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Council, opposed the accusatory and one-sided approach of the document against the Islamic Republic of Iran and called for the IMO to adhere to its technical and non-political mandate.
The Chinese representative at the meeting announced that Beijing cannot support the proposed action in the UAE's document, because the IMO Council's focus should remain on the organization's core mandate, and some elements of this document present a one-sided picture of the situation and do not reflect all dimensions of the conditions.
He stated, "The immediate priority should be to strengthen communication with relevant countries, the United Nations, and its related bodies with the aim of reducing tensions and restoring safe and orderly passage through the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible." The Chinese representative also warned that some proposed actions in the UAE's document go beyond the IMO's mandate and fall within the scope of issues that should be considered in the UN General Assembly or the Security Council.
The Russian representative, in more explicit remarks, described the UAE's proposed document as deeply one-sided and politically biased, stating that in this document, all responsibility for the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz has been placed solely on Iran, while the roots of the current situation have been completely ignored.
He added, "In recent years, a worrying trend has emerged to impose completely political issues and one-sided accusations on the IMO, and using the IMO platform in favor of one group of countries and to the detriment of others is unacceptable."
The Russian representative emphasized that the only path to resolving the current situation is de-escalation, dialogue, and negotiation among all parties involved. He said that Moscow supports unhindered, safe, and free navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, but security must be ensured through balanced solutions, taking into account the interests of all parties, not through one-sided and accusatory statements.
Iran: The UAE's Document Is Political and Lacks Legal Basis
Earlier, the Islamic Republic of Iran had also completely and decisively rejected all claims, legal descriptions, political accusations, and proposed conclusions of the UAE's document. In its response, Iran considered the UAE's proposal to be based on a selective narrative with political motives, which places responsibility on the victim of aggression, ignores the underlying causes of the current instability, and attempts to turn the IMO Council, under the guise of maritime safety, into a tool for exerting political pressure against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In its official response, Tehran emphasized that the Strait of Hormuz remains open to shipping with respect for safety and security coordination, and that Tehran has maintained traffic monitoring, search and rescue, and emergency response services. Iran's document stated that the measures implemented in and around the Strait of Hormuz are regulatory, precautionary, and supervisory in nature, adopted in response to exceptional security conditions resulting from aggression and the misuse of this waterway for hostile purposes.
In its document, Iran warned that separating the alleged consequences from their root cause would reverse the roles of victim and aggressor and undermine the technical credibility and impartiality of the IMO. Tehran also emphasized that the IMO Council is neither a judicial body with jurisdiction to determine the international responsibility of states, nor a forum for raising and pursuing political disputes among members.
It is worth noting that other countries present at today's meeting, although they did not explicitly reject the UAE's anti-Iranian document as China and Russia did, focused their remarks on the need to reduce tensions, pursue a diplomatic path, and restore commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz to a safe and orderly condition, which was far from the efforts of some parties to turn the IMO Council into an arena for one-sided accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
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