Musandam: A United Nations-backed effort to evacuate stranded ships from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz has been suspended after a merchant vessel was struck by a projectile off the coast of Oman.
Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization, said the operation would remain on hold until the agency could confirm safety guarantees for vessels on the evacuation list and other ships in the region.
The pause came after the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre reported that a vessel had sustained damage in an incident off Oman. No injuries or environmental impact were reported. The vessel, identified by a US official as the Ever Lovely, was not part of the UN-backed evacuation effort.
A US official said that the vessel was hit by an Iranian drone operated by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
The incident followed threats from Iran against ships using a new route through the strait without Tehran’s permission. Iran’s newly formed Persian Gulf Strait Authority later warned on X that vessels transiting outside its designated routes would not be covered by any guarantee of safe passage.
The new passage, laid out by Oman and the IMO, was intended to help ships leave the Persian Gulf safely after the war sharply reduced maritime movement through one of the world’s most critical energy corridors. Before the conflict, the Strait of Hormuz carried about a fifth of global oil and natural gas shipments.
Iran has said it mined the central shipping corridor after US and Israeli strikes on 28 February. At least one mine has reportedly been sighted there.
Traffic through the strait has risen in recent days but remains below pre-war levels. Lloyd’s List Intelligence said 125 vessels crossed the strait last week, up from 33 the previous week. S&P Global said Wednesday saw 78 transits, the highest since the war began, but still below the pre-war daily average of 130 or more.
Shipping group Maersk said its container ship Maersk Baltimore and another chartered vessel exited the strait on Thursday.
The Revolutionary Guard’s naval arm, in a statement carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, called the new route “unacceptable and completely dangerous”, saying it had been established without coordination with Iran.
“The only authorised route for passing through the Strait of Hormuz is the one declared by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” it said, warning that vessels outside those routes would be treated as violators.
The security scare comes as the US and Iran continue talks on an interim peace deal, including arrangements for ship movement through the strait and the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.