Recent efforts by the United States to interdict Iranian oil shipments in distant waters have extended well beyond the Persian Gulf. These operations have included the interception of tankers carrying Iranian oil—often operating under neutral flags—in areas such as the Indian Ocean, far from any declared blockaded zone. In at least some instances, so-called “sanctioned” vessels have been boarded on the basis that they were transporting Iranian oil. For example, in April 2026, U.S. forces reportedly seized the tanker Tifani in the Indian Ocean, after it had loaded oil from Kharg Island, Iran’s principal export terminal, and departed prior to the announcement of a U.S. blockade. The interception took place in open waters far from the blockaded area. U.S. statements further suggest that interdiction efforts may extend beyond the immediate theatre of war. A defining feature of the vessels at issue is that they are often not Iranian-flagged, but operate under neutral flags, frequently registered in third States through complex ownership structures. Formally, based on the law…
Piracy
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Levée en Masse at Sea? Rethinking a Forgotten Category of IHL
One of the more unusual features of international humanitarian law is its recognition that civilians—ordinary inhabitants of a territory—may spontaneously take up arms against an invading force and still qualify as lawful combatants. This is the concept of levée en masse: an exceptional status reserved for moments of extreme urgency, before civilians have time to organise themselves into…
The Prosecution ‘Gap’ for Attacks on Subsea Cables and Pipelines
Recent incidents in the Baltic Sea and elsewhere have exposed both the vulnerability of undersea infrastructure and the fragility of the legal order meant to protect it. While recent pieces on EJIL: Talk! and in Ocean Development & International Law address key facets, this post takes a step back to map the wider prosecutorial gap and…
Piracy and Undersea Cables: An Overlooked Interpretation of UNCLOS?
Recent events in the Baltic Sea and other places have highlighted the importance of undersea cables and pipelines for the global economy, and indeed our daily life. Fibre optic cables are the arteries of the modern world, transmitting over 99% of intercontinental data. While electricity and gas pipelines have less global significance, they remain crucial to regional and local economies. This blog argues…
Iran’s Seizure of the Two Greek-flagged Vessels: An International Law Perspective
The Facts On 27 May 2022 the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced the seizure of two Greek-flagged oil tankers, which sailed in international waters, 22 nautical miles from the Iranian coast (see here the statement quoted by the Iranian State news agency IRNA). The IRGC helicopters landed onboard the Greek vessels “Delta…
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