Iran war: US-Iran conflict threatens law of high seas that NZ depends on, expert warns
Thursday, 30 April 2026
The law of the high seas that New Zealand depends on is coming under intense pressure as the US and Iran wrestle for control over the Strait of Hormuz.
That’s the perspective of one Middle East expert who’s warning any erosion of these laws would create ripple effects felt around the globe.
Freedom of navigation is one of the oldest and most recognised principles of the law of the seas that underpins maritime security, a fundamental aspect of New Zealand foreign affairs policy.
Enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), it guarantees ships flying the flag of any sovereign state the ability to move through international waters without interference.
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So much of our global system is built on this principle that Dr Leon Goldsmith, an honorary senior lecturer in Middle East and comparative politics at the University of Otago, says shipping lanes like the Strait of Hormuz are much like a “coronary artery”.
“We’re heading for a heart attack in the global system,” he told The Post.
The Strait of Hormuz has effectively been closed since the start of the Iran war. Two months into the conflict, there’s no clear end or return to normal in sight ‒ despite the ceasefire. Iran’s government has proposed a toll for those wishing to ship things through the strait.
Goldsmith has an intimate understanding of the area having previously lived in Oman, a country with territory that borders the critical waterway’s narrowest point.
He said he had observed increasing co-ordination between Oman and Iran since the start of the war in February.
“They simultaneously state they wish to restore free passage through the strait while asserting their special status as littoral states [states that have coastline around the strait].”
At the centre of the dispute is a growing challenge to long-standing norms around freedom of navigation, Goldsmith said.
“I don't want to be alarmist. I wish I had good news and I certainly hope I'm wrong but I see the situation getting messier. New Zealand has to be thinking extremely creatively. We’re not going to see a return to the same global system we had that we before.”
New Zealand’s closest ally, Australia, has joined a contingent of nations publicly expressing concern about the implications of the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
It was prompted to stress the importance of freedom of navigation after Indonesia’s finance minister, Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, suggested last week that three South-East Asian nations could follow Iran's lead and put a toll on ships passing through the Strait of Malacca.
Sadewa suggested Jakarta could leverage its geographical position for financial gain before quickly backtracking, saying: “If only it could be like that.”
Goldsmith said some countries had expressed they were more amenable to paying a toll than others ‒ with Singapore a strong exception.
“Most of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, including Thailand, have basically said: ‘OK fine, we’ll pay the money, let us come through,’ because they’re desperate; they need that oil and gas.
“But Singapore, because they see a very dangerous precedent for the militarisation of these types of choke points or straits, have said: ‘No there’s no way, we’re not negotiating with you, we’re not going to pay money to you because this is an international waterway and it always has been, same as the Straits of Malacca.’”
Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan made some strong statements on freedom of navigation earlier this month, emphasising the principle was of “profound importance” and that he viewed it as a fundamental right under UNCLOS, not a negotiable privilege.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said New Zealand had serious concerns about restrictions on movement in the open seas.
“Like Singapore, NZ is an island, maritime and trading nation. Our prosperity has long relied on the freedom of navigation,” he said.
“We’re deeply concerned about any and all restrictions placed on the ability of commercial ships to pass international waters freely ‒ whether in the Strait of Hormuz or elsewhere.”
“We’re co-operating with close partners in order to promote freedom of navigation, as we have done for many years.”
New Zealand’s efforts to protect and promote freedom of navigation span successive governments of all stripes dating back to the mid-1990s; from deploying personnel to the Middle East to help protect shipping in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks in early 2024 to monitoring evasions of United Nations sanctions on North Korea in the Yellow and East China seas.
Peters met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in early April, where both leaders “stressed the crucial importance countries around the world attach to international law as it applies to freedom of navigation”.
Peters told The Post while there was no clear end in sight for the Iran war, it wouldn’t be drawn into a years-long conflict, a view he said was gained through his discussions with other leaders.
“Nobody can say [when it will end] but you’re not looking at a Ukraine situation. It will sort itself out and then the hope is we won’t have to wait months and months for normality but that’s where things are today. No one knows,” he said.
“I speak to the right hand men, I’ve spoken to Wang Yi and I’ve spoken to Rubio and [Christopher] Landau and everybody else. A whole lot more than the other people have who you keep quoting in your newspapers.”
New Zealand has joined the likes of the UK, France and Canada in signing up to joint statements, expressing readiness to pitch in to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
A statement in mid-March emphasised the interference with international shipping and disruption of global energy supply chains being seen in the Iran war amounted to “a threat to international peace and security”.
“Maritime security and freedom of navigation benefit all countries. We call on all states to respect international law and uphold the fundamental principles of international prosperity and security.”