United Nations: 6,000 sailors stranded in the Strait of Hormuz due to US-Iranian conflict

The United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO) estimates that approximately 6,000 seafarers aboard around 400 ships are stranded in the Gulf, unable to cross the Strait of Hormuz, six months after the outbreak of the US-Israeli-Iranian conflict.

In a statement on Saturday, IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said that six months after the conflict erupted between the United States, the Israeli entity, and Iran, roughly 6,000 seafarers on about 400 vessels remain trapped in the Gulf. He noted that the number had previously stood at around 20,000 seafarers on 2,000 ships.

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He clarified that while some ships and their crews managed to leave the region despite current conditions, the vital international waterway through which approximately 20% of global oil supplies pass remains largely closed to maritime navigation.

For her part, Josephine Lato-Sanft, spokesperson for the IMO, stated that thousands of seafarers live and work in the region under extremely hazardous and uncertain conditions, warning that the crisis’s impacts would be severe in both the short and long term.

She added that disruptions to critical supply chains for fuel, fertilizers, and other essential goods would negatively affect communities and economies worldwide.

The IMO emphasized the need to strengthen political will and cooperation to ensure the right of passage through the Strait of Hormuz, noting that it has so far confirmed at least 70 attacks on international cargo ships, resulting in the deaths of 19 seafarers.