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Source: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/how-america-can-put-teeth-in-its-blockade-29f23b48
How America Can Enhance Its Leverage in the Strait of Hormuz
(Wall Street Journal) Prof. Eugene Kontorovich - The U.S. has intercepted or diverted at least three Iran-linked ships in the past month. Declaring a captured vessel a prize of war - already provided for in the U.S. Code - would allow the government to take ownership and sell the oil, with proceeds going to the Treasury. For hundreds of years, international law has allowed belligerent powers to seize civilian enemy vessels, and even ships of neutral third parties if they engaged in prohibited activities such as carrying contraband or breaking a blockade. In 2023, the U.S. Justice Department seized the Suez Rajan, a tanker carrying almost a million barrels of Iranian oil, for violating U.S. sanctions. The cargo was sold in Galveston, Texas, for $83.4 million. U.S. prize law allows for establishing prize courts in the ports of co-belligerents. Seized vessels could be brought to Dubai or Eilat, Israel. The writer is a professor at the George Mason University Law School.