According to many sources, including gCaptain News, the Iranian backed Houthis have attacked over 100 merchant ship killing innocent sailors in the process. These Iranian puppet mariner killers never gave warnings to evacuate engine rooms first or any warnings at all. They just sent missiles & drones to sink passing ships. I wonder where the outraged sign-wavering protesters were then?
Merchant ships are not immune to conflict. Either stay away or face the consequences. You can’t expect to enter a war zone and declare yourself a non-participant.
You ARE the target. Blockades aim to stop merchant ships and inflict harm on a nation. Your civilian status carries some weight but not immunity.
Does it matter if it’s legal? Who is keeping track and who has any authority to hold anyone accountable?
The UN established UNCLOS but the US never ratified this so they can opt out without violating any treaty simply because they never signed one. Similar to other international laws the US does not recognize. Hegemony works until it doesn’t.
Both Iran & Yemen singed UNCLOS with the Yemen Parliament ratifying it later. But the Iranian backed Houthis in Yemen can sink merchant ships & kill sailors indiscriminately & the only country on the planet that complained or did anything about it was the US, a non UNCLOS signer? Now the pro-UNCLOS crowd finally raise a fuss even though the US Military gives plenty or warnings with well established set boundaries that prevents merchant ships from being fired upon. It’s pretty obvious to me that many in the pro-UNCLOS crowd are just pro-terrorism/anti-American. They care very little, probably none at all about merchant sailors & are just happy to have another way to use their hypocrisy to criticize the U.S. Again, where was the outrage & questioning of legality when Iran/Houthi-Yemen were attacking hundreds of innocent merchant ships? Only the USA attempted to do anything about it. God Bless the USA for that IMO.