Strait of Hormuz: UN agencies call for diplomacy to end attacks
UN agencies are calling for de-escalation in the Strait of Hormuz following increased attacks on commercial shipping. The situation is complicated by competing claims of control and toll-collection threats from the US and Iran.
Why it matters
The Strait of Hormuz is a critical global shipping lane; instability there poses a major risk to international energy supplies and maritime safety.
As both Washington and Tehran claim to control the critical commercial shipping route through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, UN agencies on Monday are calling for de-escalation amid the recent spike in strikes in the region related to the US-Iran war.
On the heels of the UN Secretary-General’s call on Sunday for further US-Iran negotiations, the Council of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) condemned the latest attacks on civilian vessels in the strait – through which a fifth of oil and natural gas exports used to pass – and called for swift de-escalation on Monday, according to decisions made at the conclusion of its 137th session.
The council stressed in a separate resolution that the right of transit passage through straits used for international navigation should not be threatened, impeded, denied, hampered, impaired or suspended.
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