Published on: 2026-06-26
Source: United Nations – United Nations –
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June 26, 2026 Peace and Security
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) reported that it managed to evacuate about 2,500 sailors from the Persian Gulf before the operation was suspended due to an attack on a commercial vessel, which cast doubt on the safety of passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
Approximately 115 vessels with 2,500 crew members left the bay in the first three and a half days of the operation. About 11,000 sailors remain in the region on 600 ships, stuck there since the beginning of the conflict between Israel and the USA on one side and Iran on the other.
The operation had to be suspended after the container ship Ever Lovely was damaged during a spill near the coast of Oman. The vessel did not participate in the evacuation and did not follow the established shipping rules, reported IMO head Arsenio Dominguez. He emphasized that Ever Lovely did not request permission from the authorities of Oman, as the coordinated evacuation procedure requires.
Geopolitical context
The Hormuz Strait is one of the most important maritime corridors on the planet, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil passes in peacetime. The resumption of shipping through it is a key point in the preliminary agreement between the USA and Iran, which formally ended hostilities but did not resolve the issue of who controls navigation in the strait.
Iran insists that courts must use routes approved by Tehran. Many commercial ships sailed the “southern” corridor near the coast of Oman under the coordination of Oman, the USA, and the IMO. Now Iran again declares its right to regulate the movement.
Two temporary corridors instead of the usual routes
Arsenio Dominguez stated that the main task of IMO at this stage is to achieve safety guarantees for all vessels, regardless of the chosen route. Currently, ships cannot use the international traffic separation scheme, in effect since 1968, because the central shipping lanes are mined, so two temporary routes are being used: the northern one, coordinated by Iran, and the southern one, supported by Oman and the USA.
According to preliminary data, on Friday four vessels passed through the northern corridor, and eleven through the southern one.
Humanitarian aspect
According to IMO data, during the “hot” phase of the current conflict in the Middle East, 14 sailors have died; more than 40 vessels have been attacked; many crews have spent about three months in the Persian Gulf, having no opportunity to leave.
Sailors trapped at sea depend on external assistance – fuel, food supplies, medications, and communication tools. Dominguez emphasized that the sailors feel abandoned, as the world’s attention is now focused on the political and economic aspects of the problem, rather than on the people caught in distress.
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