At least 25 seafarers have been killed in and around the Strait of Hormuz since the US-Israeli war on Iran broke out in February, according to the United Nations.
Khaled Khiari, assistant secretary-general for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, presented the figures, which cover the period up to November 11, during a UN Security Council briefing on Friday. Khiari stated that the situation cannot be allowed to become the new normal and urged the full restoration of maritime navigation in the region.
He pointed out that security incidents in and around Hormuz have been rising, with October recording the highest tally since the start of the conflict. The UN’s International Maritime Organization tracked 136 security incidents involving vessels in Hormuz and the wider Middle East between March 1 and November 11, including 35 incidents in October and 10 in November.
Khiari emphasised that civilian vessels and commercial shipping must not become targets. His remarks followed reports from Iranian authorities on Saturday that three oil tankers hit mines while travelling through unauthorised or restricted areas of the strait and caught fire.
Tehran has warned vessels that they must receive Iranian approval to cross the waterway during the conflict and threatened that offending tankers in the restricted area east of the Strait of Hormuz will be attacked with naval mines. Iranian officials insist the strait will not open until the United States ends its naval blockade, lifts economic sanctions, releases frozen funds, and halts fighting on all fronts.
Conversely, the US military claims it has cleared the strait's main shipping routes of mines and that the waterway is open for commercial traffic. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains approximately 65 percent below pre-war levels according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations.
Concluding his briefing, Khiari noted that current maritime arrangements remain costly, unpredictable, and unsafe, warning that disruptions continue to drive up energy, transport, and insurance costs, fuel inflation, and threaten food security.
Why it matters
The ongoing disruption of commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz drives up global energy, transport, and insurance costs while threatening regional food security.