JamzNG Latest News, Gist, Entertainment in Nigeria
That International Maritime Organization (IMO) said that 115 ships carrying around 2,500 crew had left the Gulf during the first three and a half days of the operation. The figures represent the first concrete steps in the evacuation launched this week rescued around 11,000 stranded sailors aboard 600 ships since the war between Israel and the United States against Iran erupted at the end of February.
Evacuations were halted on Thursday after the container ship, the Always Beautifulattacked while transiting the straits near the coast of Oman. The ship did not participate in the IMO-led operation, Arsenio Dominguez, head of the UN agency, said at a press conference on Friday.
“We are still investigating what exactly happened to the ship,” Dominguez told reporters from his office in London. However, he added, “what I can confirm to you is [the ship] did not contact the authorities in Oman for transit, following the evacuation framework.”
His remarks provide the clearest picture yet of rescue efforts caught up in fragile diplomacy around one of the world’s most strategically important waterways.
A rescue mission meets geopolitics
The Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s peacetime oil supplies pass, has been one of the main tests of the initial peace agreement reached last week between Washington and Tehran.
Although the memorandum of understanding signed by the two countries in principle ends hostilities and reopens the waterway, it leaves a fundamental question unresolved: who ultimately controls navigation through the narrow channel connecting the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean.
Thursday’s attack revealed the practical consequences of that ambiguity.
Iran has warned that only routes permitted by Tehran should be used, while many commercial vessels have sailed along the southern corridor near Oman’s coastline under arrangements coordinated by Oman, the United States and the IMO.
On Friday, Iranian authorities reiterated their right to regulate traffic through the Strait, underscoring the uncertainty that now haunts maritime provisions in the broader peace process.
Two corridors, no guarantees
Mr Dominguez said his main concern was not the interpretation of diplomatic agreements but restoring confidence that ships would not be attacked regardless of which route they followed.
“The guarantee I want to return,” he said, is “safety of ships and sailors – that there will be no actions like those that occurred yesterday regarding the possibility of threatening ships or attacking ships for using one corridor or another.”
The agency is now in active discussions with Iran, Oman and the United States to obtain new assurances before restarting evacuations.
Even though there’s a pause, Maritime traffic has not completely stopped.
Dominguez said preliminary figures showed that four ships on Friday had crossed through the northern corridor managed by Iran, while another 11 vessels used the southern route with help from Oman and the United States. He reminded that these figures were still being verified.
He also revealed other obstacles: ships cannot currently use the internationally recognized traffic separation scheme that has governed navigation through the Strait of Hormuz since 1968, because the central shipping lane remains contaminated by sea mines.S.
Instead, the ships were channeled through two temporary corridors established after negotiations between the parties – one coordinated by Iran in the north and another supported by Oman and the United States in the south.
When asked whether Thursday’s attack violated the US-Iran memorandum of understanding, Dominguez declined to provide a legal interpretation. Instead, he describes a step-by-step approach.
“My first priority is the evacuation of the sailorshe said. “TThe next priority is of course demining in the Strait of Hormuz.”
“Sailors feel forgotten”
However, for Dominguez, this crisis remains a humanitarian crisis.
At least 14 sailors were killed and more than 40 commercial ships were attacked during conflict, according to the IMO. A lot of the crew has spent more than three months trapped on the ship unable to leave the Gulf states, relying on outside aid for fuel, food, medical supplies and even communication with their families.
“The sailors feel forgotten,” said Mr. Dominguez. “Every time they turn on the news, they hear how this conflict is really having a negative impact on these countries, on the global economy, fuel prices, etc., and not so much attention is paid to the innocent seafarers.”
His application reflects the IMO’s unusual position today: seeking to keep one of the world’s busiest maritime chokepoints functional while conducting negotiations that go beyond its technical mandate.
Only after the sailors are rescued, he said, can attention turn to the longer-term question that came into sharper focus in Thursday’s attack: who will ultimately direct traffic through one of the world’s most important waterways.
