Six months after the current conflict in the Middle East began on 28 February, thousands of seafarers remain stuck in the Persian Gulf, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has reported. To date, the organization has verified at least 70 attacks on international shipping, in which 19 seafarers have been killed.

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most critical maritime chokepoints: roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas trade normally transits the waterway, which links the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. Any prolonged disruption there affects tanker traffic, insurance costs, and cargo routing far beyond the region, which is why the IMO frames the crisis as one of global supply-chain continuity rather than a purely regional concern.

With maritime security threats escalating worldwide, IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez issued the following statement:

"Six months since the conflict in the Middle East began, the situation in the Strait of Hormuz is unresolved. Thousands of seafarers in the region continue to live and work under conditions of heightened risk and uncertainty.

While some ships and their crews have been able to leave the Persian Gulf, up to 400 ships carrying around 6,000 seafarers have been unable to depart safely since the conflict began.

The impacts of this crisis are grave – both in the short and long term. The disruption of vital supply chains for fuels, fertilizers and other commodities has consequences for communities and economies around the world.

In July, the IMO Council adopted a resolution on the protection of vital shipping lanes, reaffirming that the right of transit passage through straits used for international navigation must not be threatened, impeded, denied, hampered, impaired or suspended. It called for a coordinated and sustainable return to unhindered navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

Renewed political will and cooperation is needed to deliver on this commitment. I call on all Member States and the shipping industry to work together with IMO and the wider United Nations system, to advance practical solutions to restore the freedom of navigation through the Strait.

The deterioration of maritime security around the globe – from the Black Sea to the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden – is detrimental to us all. But it is particularly distressing for the thousands of innocent seafarers affected."

The reference to the Black Sea, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden reflects a broader pattern of strain on international shipping lanes over recent years, with commercial vessels and crews increasingly exposed to conflict-related risks. The transit-passage principle the IMO Council reaffirmed in July is anchored in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), under which all ships enjoy the right of unimpeded passage through straits used for international navigation. What to watch next is whether Member States and the industry can translate the Council's resolution into practical arrangements that allow the roughly 400 vessels and their crews still in the Persian Gulf to depart safely, and whether further IMO verification reports detail additional attacks or casualties.

Source: IMO