{"id":91217,"date":"2026-03-06T11:35:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T06:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=91217"},"modified":"2026-03-06T13:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T07:41:09","slug":"maritime-law-and-warfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/maritime-law-and-warfare\/","title":{"rendered":"Maritime Law and Warfare: Rules Governing Naval Conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Maritime Law and Warfare Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A US submarine torpedoed the Iranian warship <\/span><b><i>IRIS Dena<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> off the coast of Sri Lanka, outside its territorial waters. The ship was returning after participating in the International Fleet Review and MILAN-2026 naval exercise hosted by India near Visakhapatnam.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The attack resulted in the death of at least 80 sailors and expanded the US-Israel\u2013Iran conflict beyond West Asia into the Indian Ocean region.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The incident has also sparked a debate in India over maritime security, especially given India\u2019s strong naval presence in the Indian Ocean.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Experts noted that ships sailing in international waters cannot be protected by another country from hostile action. Once outside a nation\u2019s territorial boundaries, ships are subject mainly to <\/span><b>international maritime law and conventions<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which govern conduct during naval conflicts.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-91257\" src=\"https:\/\/d35xcwcl37xo08.cloudfront.net\/current-affairs-wp-uploads\/2026\/03\/unnamed-2.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"468\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><b>Legal Framework Governing Maritime Conflict<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">International maritime law is mainly governed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), although the United States is not a signatory.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UNCLOS primarily deals with peacetime maritime governance and does not clearly regulate the conduct of parties during armed conflicts.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Law of Naval Warfare<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During conflicts, the law of naval warfare operates alongside<a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/united-nations-convention-on-the-law-of-the-sea\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong> UNCLOS<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under these rules, warships belonging to a belligerent state can be considered legitimate military targets, regardless of whether they are directly engaged in combat.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Provisions Under the UN Charter<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The UN Charter regulates the use of force in international waters.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Article 2(4) generally prohibits the use of force, but Article 51 allows states to act in self-defence if they face an armed attack.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Military action may also be authorised by the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/what-is-the-united-nations-security-council\/\" target=\"_blank\">UN Security Council<\/a><\/strong> under <\/span><b>Chapter VII <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of the UN Charter.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, such approval requires a majority vote and no veto from any permanent member, making it difficult to obtain in many situations.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>US Sanctions on the Iranian Warship<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Iranian warship IRIS Dena was sanctioned by the US Treasury in February 2023, along with executives of the Iranian drone company Paravar Pars.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The sanctions were linked to Iran\u2019s alleged supply of UAVs to Russia for attacks on infrastructure in Ukraine.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, these sanctions did not prevent the ship from participating in peacetime multilateral naval exercises, though they restricted its commercial or transactional activities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the time of the attack, the warship was likely equipped with basic defensive weapon systems, including close-in weapon systems and area defence systems.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Expert Views on the Incident<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>No Fixed War Zones at Sea<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; Experts stated that there are <\/span><b>no defined war zones<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the maritime domain. The attack occurred after the Iranian ship left India, making it part of the wider conflict environment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Incident Near Sri Lanka\u2019s EEZ<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; The attack happened in Sri Lanka\u2019s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This proximity allowed authorities to begin search and rescue operations quickly. The location also suggests the ship may have been aware of potential threats.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Legal Concerns Over Use of Force<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 Critics, however, argued that attacking a foreign warship on the high seas is generally <\/span><b>unlawful<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> unless justified as self-defence or within an ongoing armed conflict, as recognised under Article 51 of the UN Charter.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Escalation of the Conflict<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Analysts described the attack as a major escalation in the US-Israel-Iran conflict.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ship was reportedly on a peaceful passage outside the conflict zone, which may have led to the crew being caught off guard despite defensive capabilities.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/sinking-iranian-ship-legal-framework-governs-maritime-conflict-10566859\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maritime Law and Warfare explain the legal rules governing naval conflict, including UNCLOS, the law of naval warfare, and UN Charter provisions on the use of force in international waters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":91255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[60,5882,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-91217","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-mains-articles","9":"tag-maritime-law-and-warfare","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91217"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91288,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91217\/revisions\/91288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}