The United Nations suspended a major evacuation operation in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday after a cargo vessel was reportedly attacked and Iran lodged a formal objection to the rescue plan.
The International Maritime Organization announced the pause following what its Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez described as an "attack" on a ship transiting the waterway near Oman. The incident raised immediate concerns about the safety of thousands of mariners waiting to leave the region.
Dominguez said the decision to halt operations was necessary to "reconfirm that the necessary safety guarantees continue to be in place." He noted that the struck vessel was not part of the IMO evacuation framework, but the incident prompted the organization to reassess conditions before continuing with the broader rescue effort.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations center reported that a vessel had been hit by an "unknown projectile" but noted no immediate casualties. Lloyd's List Intelligence, which tracks global maritime movements, confirmed that at least two tankers had already turned back after attempting to exit the Persian Gulf through the strait.
Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Navy objected to the IMO plan before the reported attack, telling state media that the evacuation route was announced "without notifying or coordinating with" Iran. Officials called the initiative "unacceptable and completely dangerous."
The evacuation framework was announced Tuesday by the IMO to address a critical humanitarian crisis. Some 600 ships remain trapped in the region, and the organization has reported 14 deaths among seafarers since conflict began in February. Dominguez confirmed that several vessels had been successfully evacuated before the operation was paused.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most critical shipping channels. The pause underscores how quickly geopolitical tensions can disrupt maritime commerce and endanger the people working on vessels in the region, even after previous diplomatic agreements.
Author James Rodriguez: "When a rescue mission gets frozen by an apparent attack, you know the situation on the water has deteriorated faster than diplomacy can handle."
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