UN Suspends Ship Evacuations Through Strait of Hormuz After Reports of Attacks

Strait of Hormuz. (Wikimedia Commons/Ali khodabakhsh)

JAKARTA - The United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO) suspended its ship escort operations through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday after a ship reported an attack, which again raised concerns about an initial agreement to end the war with Iran.

IMO helped evacuate hundreds of ships and thousands of sailors stranded in the strait where they had been stranded for months since the start of the war in late February.

"IMO has decided to temporarily suspend its implementation to ensure that the necessary safety guarantees remain in place for the ships on our evacuation list and all ships in the region," IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement, launching Al Arabiya and Reuters (26/6).

The cargo ship said its vessel was hit by a projectile near Oman, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said, hours after Tehran warned ships not to take routes it had not approved.

Two US officials told Reuters that Iran had fired at the ship, while Iran's so-called "Gulf Strait Authority" (Arab), which Tehran established to manage ships' requests to pass through the strait, said ships outside the established route would not be guaranteed safe.

Four sources identified the ship as the Singapore-flagged Ever Lovely. A security source said it was likely that the ship was the target of a drone.

IMO said the ship involved in the alleged attack was not part of its evacuation program.

The initiative, launched on Tuesday, is a voluntary option for ships and their crews to sail out of the Gulf using two routes - one through Iranian waters and the other through Omani waters, with US surveillance, the IMO said this week.

The incident in Oman is likely to refocus attention on the extent of Iran's future control over the Strait of Hormuz which, before the conflict, handled a fifth of the world's daily oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.

Prior to the incident, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio - who ended his visit to the Gulf to reassure countries about the interim pact - told reporters that if Iran threatened or blocked ships in the strait, "then we will have a problem."

However, Iran has signaled that it will continue to assert control over the strait.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday that safe passage through the strait would only be possible through routes determined by Iran, adding that they would take action against ships that failed to comply with the rules.

The IRGC also ordered two Panama-flagged vessels to change course on Thursday, British maritime security firm Ambrey said.

During the conflict, Iran effectively took control of the vital route, affecting oil flows and shaking the global energy market and the wider economy.