International Journal of Maritime Policy

The crime of piracy as the oldest international crime has emerged in a modern way in recent years. In addition, piracy is one of the first and main crimes that have been subject to universal jurisdiction. Today, this crime has moved away from its classic way and has progressed to the point of a transformation. This has caused the United Nations Security Council, as the main pillar of maintaining international peace and security, to deal with it many times by issuing resolutions. Despite continuous efforts to prosecute the perpetrators of piracy in domestic courts, the international community has not been able to effectively deal with this phenomenon, because states are facing problems to suppress piracy, including the increasing human rights norms. For this purpose to fight against piracy, new and potential solutions have been proposed, including the establishment of a special international court, referring piracy to the International Criminal Court, as well as dealing with the crime of piracy as a terrorist crime through anti-terrorist conventions. In this regard, according to outcomes of this research, combat to modern piracy in the International Criminal Court can be considered the most effective and efficient way. Compiled with a descriptive and analytical method, by setting this outcome as a hypothesis and examining the characteristics and the limitations of combat to this crime, new and potential solutions of combat to impunity of modern piracy, especially in International Criminal Court, has been discussed.

The South China Sea, along with the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait, is described as one of the three hotspots in East Asia because of its potential for conflict of interest and threat to peace and security. Therefore, the issue of its borders is of international importance. As a quasi-closed sea, it is home to numerous small islands and cliffs, as well as abundant living and non-marine reserves, as well as providing key maritime routes for commercial navigation. For these reasons, the sea has become the target of conflict between coastal countries and its neighbors. In this sea, the main issues in dispute are: 1- Border disputes over the determination of the lines of origin, the boundaries of the territorial seas and also the exclusive economic zone2. Territorial disputes over several islands, including the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos. Because of its superior power, as well as some unproven historical claims, China sets the nine-dash as the final line of its sovereignty, some of which extend as far as the coastal sea. The United States and the countries bordering the South China Sea strongly oppose this, as well as China's historic claims. The littoral states of the South China Sea consider the historic claims and the nine-dash claimed by the Chinese government to be contrary to the laws of the UN Convention. The United States, as a trans-regional player, also provides diverse support to coastal countries. In this research, with a descriptive analytical approach and using new sources, the disputed issues between the claiming countries have been studied and the role of the United States in terms of geopolitical competition has been analyzed.

The carrier in sea transportation is obligated to proceed with the voyage on the contractual route. The violation may exempt the insurer from supporting the loss and damage to cargo after deviation from the route. Regarding the importance of marine insurance contract validity in international commerce, this question arises whether the ship deviation invalidates the insurance contract and exonerates the insurer to compensate. In the English marine insurance act 1906, the insurer is exempted from compensating for damages and the courts consider the claim regarding the circumstances governing the case. The lack of a marine insurance act in Iranian legislation requires us to consider the matter of the general rules in the insurance act 1937 that analyze performance guarantees such as invalidity and right of termination on the contract. If the additional insurance premium is not agreed upon in the contract, the right to terminate the contractual relationship is an approach that protects the insurer in different cases. Nowadays, because the insurance companies do not fully compensate for the damage, part of that is compensated by the P&I clubs. In fact, there is a kind of supplementary compensation covered after deviation. The mentioned question is analyzed with the descriptive-analytical method and library sources in this article. 

With the acceptance of international trade and its expansion in the 20th century, the need to prepare a suitable mechanism to resolve disputes, especially in non-international dimensions, became one of the important concerns to maintain commercial relations and contracts. And this caused that, despite the global skepticism towards arbitration, in a short time arbitration and mediation were considered as a way to resolve conflicts, especially regarding international commercial disputes. On June 26, 2018, the Singapore Convention was approved by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) regarding international agreements resulting from mediation. And the plan of UNCITRAL was modified in the field of international commercial mediation and international settlement agreements resulting from mediation. The purpose of ratifying this convention is to establish a binding legal system and an efficient framework and legal platform for the implementation of international agreements resulting from mediation. Previously, the adoption of the New York Convention by expanding the use of the arbitration method as a way to settle disputes was considered one of the most successful international treaties in this field. In total, the present research, with an analytical and argumentative method, seeks to respond to the main philosophy of concluding and the scope of application of each of the two New York and Singapore Conventions, by examining the weak and strong points of each, it explains the position of these two treaties in resolving conflicts and disputes and discusses the similarities and differences between the New York Convention and the Singapore Convention on Mediation.

With the increasing development of the shipbuilding industry in the global arena, the need for the presence of foreign companies in this field and especially investment in it was felt more than ever. The benefits of the presence of foreigners and the existence of sanctions against Iran gave special importance to how the contract was concluded. However, considering that the contract is considered an indefinite contract and its limits and limits are agreed upon between the parties according to the freedom of will (Article 10 of the Civil Code of Iran). In this research, we considered the conditions of the representative and the duties of its parties against the third party to be important and examined. The authors have tried to process the subject by using a descriptive-analytical research method and library data collection method. What was obtained from this research is the need to pay attention to the representative's behavior and the limits of authority granted to the representative by the principle. Considering all the aspects mentioned in this research, a relatively reliable contract can be concluded.

The government of Iran has signed the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea1982, but in the past 40 years since Iran signed this convention and 28 years after the implementation of this convention in 1994, the government has always refused to approve this convention, which is the most important convention in the field of maritime and no plan or bill has been presented in the government or parliament for its approval. In this article, using the analytical descriptive method, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and legal doubts of Iran regarding this convention, which is actually the most important regulation in the field of the law of the sea, are examined and finally, a fundamental analysis is provided to resolve Iran's concerns in the direction of ratifying this convention. The results of this research show that Iran can enjoy its benefits such as maritime technology transfer and other benefits by joining this convention. In terms of the threats and weaknesses of this convention regarding the innocent passage of naval vessels in the territorial waters of Iran, it is possible to remove this threat as a precondition of prior notification and obtaining prior permission or both for the innocent passage from the territorial sea based on the practice of countries such as China, India, Pakistan, Sweden, Bulgaria, Poland and other countries. In the discussion of the Strait of Hormuz and the transit passage based on the provisions of the law of the sea Convention, by creating the non-suspendable innocent passage in peacetime, the weaknesses of this Convention regarding the internationalization of the Strait of Hormuz can be modified by creating a special regime for  the strait, considering that in The narrowest part of the Strait is the territorial waters of Iran and Oman, it is excluded from transit passage.