At least 25 seafarers have lost their lives in and around the Strait of Hormuz since the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran in February, according to the United Nations.
Khaled Khiari, assistant secretary-general for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, presented these figures during a UN Security Council briefing on Friday. His statistics covered the period up to November 11.
“This situation cannot be allowed to become the new normal,” said Khiari. He urged the full restoration of maritime navigation in the region.
He noted that security incidents in and around the waterway have increased. October recorded the highest tally of incidents since the conflict began.
The UN International Maritime Organization tracked 136 security incidents involving vessels in Hormuz and the wider Middle East between March 1 and November 11. The organisation reported 35 of those incidents occurred in October, alongside 10 in November.
“Every day brings new reports of maritime incidents,” Khiari told the council. “These incidents are unacceptable. Civilian vessels and commercial shipping must not become targets.”
Iranian authorities reported on Saturday that three oil tankers hit mines while travelling through unauthorised or restricted areas of Hormuz, catching fire.
Tehran has warned vessels they must receive Iranian approval to cross the waterway during the conflict. It has repeatedly attacked ships accused of violating this 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,” the Iranian navy warned in a statement carried by the IRIB broadcaster.
Iranian officials insist the strait will not open until the United States meets several demands. These include ending the naval blockade of Iranian ports, lifting economic sanctions, releasing frozen Iranian funds, ending fighting on all fronts, and issuing an explicit announcement to end the war.
The US military claims it has cleared the main routes of mines and that the waterway remains open for commercial shipping.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz sits approximately 65 percent below pre-war levels, according to a report from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations.
Khiari told the UN Security Council that 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,” he said.
