Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, on November 9 [Reuters]
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, gave the figures, which cover the period up to November 11, during a UN Security Council briefing on Friday.
Recommended Stories
“This situation cannot be allowed to become the new normal,” said Khiari, urging 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 (IMO) tracked 136 security incidents involving vessels in Hormuz and the wider Middle East between March 1 and November 11. It said 35 of those incidents came in October and 10 in November.
“Every day brings new reports of maritime incidents,” said Khiari. “These incidents are unacceptable,” he added. “Civilian vessels and commercial shipping must not become targets.”
His remarks come as Iranian authorities on Saturday reported that three oil tankers had hit mines while travelling through “unauthorised” or “restricted” areas of Hormuz, catching fire.
Tehran has warned vessels that they must receive Iranian approval to cross the waterway during the conflict, and has repeatedly attacked ships accused of violating its protocol.
“Any offending tanker that travels in the restricted area east of the Strait of Hormuz will be set on fire by hitting naval mines,” Iran’s navy warned in a statement carried by the country’s IRIB broadcaster.
Iranian officials have insisted the strait will not be open until the US meets its demands, which include an end to the US naval blockade of Iran’s ports, the lifting of economic sanctions, the release of Iranian frozen funds, ending fighting on all fronts, and an explicit announcement of an end to the war.
The US military claims it has cleared the strait’s main routes of mines and that the waterway is open for commercial shipping.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is approximately 65 percent below pre-war levels, according to the latest report from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).
Khiari, in his remarks to the UN Security Council, said “the present maritime arrangements in the Middle East remain costly, unpredictable, and unsafe”.
“Disruptions to maritime navigation continue to have significant global economic consequences, driving up energy, transport and insurance costs, fuelling inflation and threatening food security amid severely constrained fertiliser shipments.”