Gulf to Western economies (including our own). The following statistics are telling:
* In the 8 year conflict between Iran and Iraq, 543 ships were attacked, mostly in international waters.
* 53 U.S. lives were lost in attacks on U.S. military vessels; a total of 200 merchant sailors were killed.
* The majority of ships attacked flew the flags of States unconnected with the conflict between Iran and Iraq.
* Over 80 ships were sunk or declared a total loss resulting in over $2 billion in direct losses to cargo and hulls.
* Hull insurance rates increased 200 percent worldwide. Of course, these rates were passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
* Fears that the tanker war would result in serious disruption of available oil supplies pushed the cost ofoil supplies from approximately $13 to $31 per barrel. Total cost to the world economy was projected by some to exceed $200 billion.
* No plausible combination of decreased domestic consumption or conservation will reverse current U.S. dependence on Persian Gulf oil - now in the vicinity of 9.8 million Bbls per day.
The important point is that upholding free access through critical maritime and aviation choke points has great significance for both the US and world economy as a whole. The LOS Convention would not have prevented the Iran-Iraq war. However, to the extent that the Convention's norms are observed on a daily basis by States bordering critical choke points, the US and world economies can remain free of economic blackmail.
The reality that U.S. economic interests are global underscores the need to uphold the transit rights under a widely accepted and comprehensive international legal regime, as provided by the Convention. Its dispute resolution provisions and its fixed rules for determining the breadth and access to maritime resources in the EEZ and continental shelf all support the "stability of expectations of investment bankers, insurance companies and others who underwrite and support shipping, offshore exploration and drilling and many other activities at sea."
U.S. ECONOMIC INTERESTS AND MILITARY COMMAND AND CONTROL NEEDS DEPEND ON CONTINUED USE AND ACCESS TO HIGH SEAS AREAS FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS
We are now witnessing a new global information age. Our role in the expanding global information market, and our economic dependence on that market, is immense and growing. To serve that market, investment in new undersea fiber-optic cable by American and other companies is expanding at a rate measured in billions of dollars. Particularly as competing uses of the sea and seabed expand, it is important that we maintain and
