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Pia Lee-Brago - The Philippine Star
July 23, 2026 | 12:00am
Protesters oppose US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit and the proposed Pax Silica project, in Pasay yesterday.
Edd Gumban
MANILA, Philippines — Washington will not allow a nation to control an international waterway to threaten freedom of navigation and set a “dangerous” precedent in the Strait of Hormuz and in other parts of the world, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a gathering of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministers yesterday.
Speaking at the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference, Rubio said a threat to freedom of navigation is also a threat to global economy.
The US, he said, is always willing to engage, negotiate and settle differences with Iran but Tehran has not kept its commitments in agreements.
“At its core, it’s very simple. Iran demands the right, which they do not have under any existing legal mechanism, to control the transit of traffic through the Straits of Hormuz,” Rubio said.
“And if we create a precedent in the Middle East where a nation state can decide that they are going to control an international waterway, charge a toll and if you don’t pay them, blow up your ships, we have created a very dangerous precedent, which will repeat itself in other parts of the world, including in this region,” he added.
The ASEAN foreign ministers on Tuesday expressed serious concern over the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Middle East, especially with renewed hostilities between the US and Iran.
In a joint statement, the ministers called on the US and Iran to exercise utmost self-restraint and avoid any acts that may further aggravate the situation.
Rubio reiterated that the US remains open and willing to engage in positive, constructive negotiations “so long as the commitments that are made are kept.”
“What is at stake here is not simply the issue of what’s happening in the Strait of Hormuz. It’s a very fundamental principle about freedom of navigation. And if that is threatened, then I think the global economy is threatened,” Rubio said.
“And the rules which have underpinned the 150 years of international trade and commerce are also threatened, and that cannot be allowed to happen,” he added.- AFP
