UDK: 341.331

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30932/2500-1868-2026-59-3-14

Al Ali Naser Abdel Raheem - Candidate of Law, Associate Professor of the Department of Maritime Law and International Law, Law Institute, Russian University of Transport (MIIT) Moscow, Russia

Abstract. The current paper has presented the study of the international legal nature of the regime of transit passage through international straits and the assessment of the extent to which it has been transformed into a rule of customary international law. Particular attention has been paid to the relationship between the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, state practice, and opinio juris, as well as their significance for the legal regime of the Strait of Hormuz. There have been considered the specifics of transit passage, the positions of coastal states, the doctrine of the persistent objecting state, and the lawfulness of restricting passage during peacetime and armed conflict. There has been substantiated a differentiated approach, according to which specific elements of the transit passage regime are firmly rooted in customary international law, whereas the recognition of the entire contractual regime as a universal customary norm remains a subject of debate. There has been drawn a conclusion that it is necessary to define the legal status of the Strait of Hormuz by taking into account both contractual and customary norms of international maritime law, as well as practice and legal positions of the state.

Keywords: transit passage; peaceful passage; international straits; international custom; opinio juris; the Strait of Hormuz; international maritime law; freedom of navigation.

References:

1. Said Mahmoudi. Customary International Law and Transit Passage // Ocean Development & International Law/ 1989. Vol. 20. No. 2. P. 157—174.

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A.A. Naser Abdel Raheem. The legal regime of the Strait of Hormuz: the transformation of the contractual rule of transit passage into a rule of customary international law // Transport law and security. 2026; (3(59)):168―180.