The UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) has suspended the planned evacuation of more than 11,000 sailors stranded in the Strait of Hormuz after a cargo ship crossing the waterway was attacked.
IMO chief Arsenio Dominguez said several boats had already been evacuated, but the agency wanted to ensure “necessary safety guarantees” would continue to be in place.
Britain’s maritime safety agency UKMTO reported Thursday that a ship was struck 7.5 nautical miles southeast of Oman’s Dahit port by “an unknown projectile.” No casualties have been reported.
The attack came after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned that attempts to cross the strait along an IMO-designated route would be “unacceptable and completely dangerous” and that ships would have to coordinate with Iran.
U.S. officials said Iran fired on the ship, according to U.S. media.
Maritime risk management company Vanguard said the ship, the Singapore-flagged Ever Lovely, continued to pass through the strait despite the attack.
The Ever Lovely followed a southward course identified by the IMO on Thursday morning, according to data from ship tracking website MarineTraffic reviewed by BBC Verify.
He led a flotilla of four other ships, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Iranian navy did not send any warnings to the ships via radio, according to flotilla sailors who spoke to the newspaper.
IMO chief Dominguez said in a statement Thursday that the attacked ship “did not transit through the IMO evacuation framework.”
“I have always reiterated that the safety of seafarers remains paramount. Therefore, to ensure a coordinated approach and safety of navigation, the evacuation plan will be suspended until more clarity is obtained,” he said.
Hundreds of ships and thousands of sailors have been stranded in the Gulf since February because of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
The U.N. evacuation effort was announced Tuesday after the strait reopened, with Dominguez saying the “large-scale operation” had benefited from cooperation from Iran, Oman, the United States, other coastal states in the region and the maritime industry.
The attack came after the body set up by Iran to manage the strait said ships passing outside designated routes would not be given safe passage.
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Many ships were using an alternative route on the south side of the strait, skirting the coast of Oman, the New York Times reports.
Last week, the United States and Iran agreed to end hostilities in a deal 14-point agreement – which also calls on Iran to do “its best to allow the safe passage of commercial vessels, free of charge for 60 days.”
However, Tehran has repeatedly said it plans to charge what it calls maritime service fees for crossing the strait, as opposed to tolls.
The United States fiercely opposes the plan, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio warning Tuesday that no country is allowed to impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz, which he called an “international waterway.”
Rubio is currently in Bahrain as part of a Gulf tour to discuss the deal with Tehran.
After U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran began in late February, Tehran effectively closed the strait – a key waterway for oil and gas shipments – causing global oil prices to soar and strangling shipments of other essential products such as fertilizer.
However, the cost of crude has fallen sharply since the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on June 17, which sets a 60-day period for negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program and other measures aimed at ending the war.
Earlier Thursday, the price of oil briefly fell below $72.48 (£55) a barrel, the price it was at the day before the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran, before rising again to $73.23.
