Senate Move on Iran Triggers UN Race to Free 11,000 Stranded Seafarers
The UN’s maritime agency has begun a large-scale operation to free thousands of sailors trapped by months of US-Iran conflict — among them nearly 18,000 Indian nationals — after 14 lost their lives in one of the worst humanitarian crises to hit global shipping in decades
By NewsArc Bureau
LONDON/NEW DELHI, June 24 — The United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO) has launched a major evacuation operation for over 11,000 seafarers stranded in and around the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global energy chokepoint effectively shut for months by the US-Iran war that began in February 2026.
The IMO announced on Tuesday that the operation follows a peace agreement between the United States and Iran that ended months of conflict and allowed commercial shipping to begin resuming through the world’s most consequential maritime corridor.
IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said the large-scale operation would be carried out in close cooperation with Iran, Oman, all other coastal states in the region, the United States, and the maritime industry. He added that the UN had secured the necessary safety guarantees and had thoroughly verified the conditions for safe navigation to support the operations.
Mines, Tolls, and Fragile Diplomacy
The IMO estimates up to 600 ships remain stranded in the region. Dominguez said the UN had safety guarantees and had thoroughly verified conditions for safe navigation before launching the evacuation mission. Two temporary transit routes through the strait have been designated for use during the evacuation, with individual ships to receive specific navigation instructions.
The operation, however, is shadowed by unresolved dangers. Senior Indian shipping industry sources say Iran laid thousands of mines across the 160-kilometre-long Strait during the conflict. Many of these mines, powerful enough to tear through a ship’s hull, have drifted from their original positions and are difficult to detect. The US Navy has been conducting anti-mine operations for weeks, but progress has been slow.
Volatility surrounding the waterway persists. While Iran and the United States signed an initial accord last week intended to halt the conflict, Tehran subsequently announced a fresh closure of the strait following renewed clashes between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon. Diplomatic engagements between Washington and Tehran are proceeding following talks in Switzerland that initiated a 60-day window focused on achieving a permanent resolution.
Indian Sailors Bear the Heaviest Cost
The crisis has cut deepest for India, one of the world’s largest suppliers of merchant seafarers. According to India’s Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, nearly 18,000 Indian sailors remain stranded in and around the Strait, of whom 662 are aboard 13 Indian-flagged vessels.
Conditions on ships in the Gulf were described as “unbearable,” with seafarers facing shortages of food, water, and medical care, as well as the constant threat of attack. Three Indian nationals were among those killed when the US struck commercial vessels during the conflict, according to Manoj Yadav, general secretary of the Forward Seamen’s Union of India.
IMO Secretary-General Dominguez confirmed that at least 14 seafarers lost their lives during the conflict overall.
Yadav had said at the height of the attacks: “Everyone is living under a big threat, waiting there like sitting ducks.”
Rubio in UAE: No Tolls on International Waterway
The evacuation announcement came as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the United Arab Emirates and was asked whether the US could guarantee freedom of navigation through the Strait. “It’s an international waterway,” Rubio said. “No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway.”
The comment was directed at reports that Iran has been levying charges on tankers transiting the route. The question of whether Iran will continue to charge such tolls under the interim peace deal remains unresolved; asked about the issue, US Vice President JD Vance said the final negotiations would set the terms of what comes afterwards.
Recovery Signs, Fragile Hopes
Shipping traffic has shown early signs of recovery since the US-Iran agreement came into force, with at least 36 commodity vessels passing through the Strait on Monday, the highest level of traffic since the war began, according to shipping analytics platform Kpler.
The International Transport Workers’ Federation, which has been coordinating evacuation plans with the IMO, cautioned that the peace deal was “at best, the beginning,” stressing that words on paper must translate into action for the transport workers who have paid the price of this conflict.
For the thousands still anchored in the Gulf, the coming days will determine whether a diplomatic agreement forged in distant capitals can finally bring them home.
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