UN pauses Strait of Hormuz evacuation after cargo ship is attacked
The International Maritime Organization, the UN’s shipping body, paused its evacuation plan for the Strait of Hormuz on June 25 after a cargo ship reported being hit by a projectile while attempting to transit the strait near the coast of Oman. The vessel was struck on its starboard side roughly 7.5 nautical miles off the Omani coast; the bridge was damaged but the ship reported no casualties or spill.
US officials told The Wall Street Journal the attack was carried out by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It came hours after Tehran warned that ships should not use the UN-approved corridor without Iranian permission, directly contradicting the arrangement meant to clear the strait. The IMO said the plan to move stranded vessels will stay on hold until it can secure safety guarantees for the ships awaiting passage.
The strike undercuts a central piece of the post-ceasefire de-escalation. The UN had begun evacuating thousands of stranded sailors on the assumption that safe passage had been negotiated; an attack on that very route signals Iran intends to keep leverage over Hormuz traffic — and the “transit fees” it has floated — even as the broader US-Iran deal holds. With the strait carrying a large share of the world’s seaborne oil, renewed disruption there is what kept energy prices volatile through the conflict.