Persian Gulf Council: Project Summary

News notes

The Persian Gulf Council is an intergovernmental body that could be established if the members of the Persian Gulf Council decided to create and operate it.

The ex officio members of the Persian Gulf Council are the countries bordering the Persian Gulf.

The scope of the Persian Gulf Council covers the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

Pursuant to agreements among the members, this Council is concerned with:

  • Navigation in the Persian Gulf within the area defined by the Council,
  • Environment and pollution in the Persian Gulf
  • and other related topics, such as water and environmental monitoring, if the Council so decides

A few articles have been written on this topic. They are merely drafts to be expanded upon by members, depending on their interest and agreement. Leaving them as drafts is intentional. Countries will need to get involved for the Council to be established. They will propose, decide on, and implement their agreements in a more concrete form than these drafts, which were intended solely to spark discussion on the subject.

A recap of previous articles:

Procedure to Follow

  • Agreement by each coastal country to participate in the Persian Gulf Council,
  • If all countries agree, appointment of a temporary chair country and appointment of a Council secretary (who will document projects and agreements and assist in their implementation). The secretary is a civil servant nominated by one of the countries

First topic: Defining navigation in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz

The first step should be to clarify the boundaries of each country’s territorial waters, including in the Strait of Hormuz, which belongs to several coastal states and not just one.

The result of this first step will be a map showing the boundaries of the agreed-upon territorial waters. If there are any disputes, they should be noted, and the points agreed upon by all parties should serve as the basis for further work. For now, international shipping lanes are not included; they will be added at a later date.

The second step involves establishing a maritime traffic monitoring agency. This agency could utilize data from existing primary radars (which track ships even without transponders), as well as standardized information for international navigation based on active transponders. We can also envision units under the authority of the Persian Gulf Council that would have the power to inspect ships and ensure they adhere to designated shipping lanes. In this second step, oversight would not be carried out by a single country but by the Persian Gulf Council.

In this second step, we must identify the areas that will fall under the oversight of the monitoring body. For example, the entire Strait of Hormuz should be subject to this monitoring. We will also need to determine the means of intervention (small Iranian vessels could serve this purpose if they represented the Gulf Cooperation Council rather than a single country).

The third step is to decide whether or not to impose a toll. The toll could cover the operating costs of the Persian Gulf Council

Whether each country contributes directly or charges fees to ships traveling to the Persian Gulf is a decision made by the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

The fourth step is to define the waterways. There may be several, but to regulate traffic, this must be clearly established at the international level.

If the Persian Gulf Council can perform these four steps and reach an agreement, the rest should follow.

The short-term challenge is to understand that the Persian Gulf Council is focused on a return to normal operations, not on a wartime footing. During a war, generals act as if they control everything, disregarding international rules and even the territorial waters of others; hence the need to begin by clarifying the boundaries of each country’s territorial waters and ensuring they are accepted by all.

To function, the Persian Gulf Council may need to define surveillance zones within which it will exercise oversight and control. However, this will not involve the oversight and control of a single country claiming authority over all others, even if the principle of oversight and control will be similar to that which a single country might exercise.

If the Persian Gulf Council reaches this stage, it will be necessary to clearly define the resources made available by the countries (e.g., existing radar systems) and the necessary coordination mechanisms (the ability to utilize data from various radar systems).

Relationship to other negotiations

Iran and the United States have a range of issues to discuss. The Persian Gulf Council is limited to the Persian Gulf and will not make any decisions on other matters. On other matters, it will be possible to exchange views. Conversely, Iran and the US are expected not to define, in place of the Persian Gulf Council, what falls under the jurisdiction of the Persian Gulf littoral states.

It is not impossible that the Persian Gulf Council will not be established immediately, but it will be necessary sooner or later. It is a concept that makes sense for the future.

Naej DRANER

May 19, 2026