Agencies | Tehran:
At least 25 seafarers have been killed in and around the Strait of Hormuz since the US-Israeli war on Iran began in February, according to the United Nations.
Khaled Khiari, UN Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, shared the figures during a briefing to the UN Security Council on Friday. The data covers the period up to November 11.
“This situation cannot be allowed to become the new normal,” Khiari said, calling for the full restoration of maritime navigation in the region.
He warned that security incidents involving vessels in and around the Strait of Hormuz had continued to rise, with October recording the highest monthly number since the conflict began.
The UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) recorded 136 security incidents involving vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Middle East between March 1 and November 11. Of these, 35 were reported in October and 10 in November.
“Every day brings new reports of maritime incidents,” Khiari said, describing the incidents as unacceptable and stressing that civilian vessels and commercial shipping must not become targets.
His remarks came as Iranian authorities on Saturday reported that three oil tankers had struck naval mines and caught fire while travelling through areas Tehran described as unauthorised or restricted in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has warned vessels that they must obtain its approval before crossing the waterway during the conflict. Its navy has also threatened action against ships accused of violating the restrictions.
“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 maintained that the strait will remain closed until the United States meets Tehran’s demands. These include ending the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, lifting economic sanctions, releasing frozen Iranian funds, stopping fighting on all fronts and formally declaring an end to the war.
The US military, meanwhile, has claimed that it has cleared the main shipping routes through the strait of mines and that the waterway is open to commercial traffic.
However, shipping activity through the strategic passage remains significantly below pre-war levels. According to the latest report by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is operating at approximately 65 per cent below its pre-war level.
Addressing the Security Council, Khiari warned that maritime operations in the region remained costly, unpredictable and unsafe.
He said disruptions to navigation were having significant global economic consequences, pushing up energy, transportation and insurance costs, fuelling inflation and threatening food security amid severely constrained fertiliser shipments.
