The United Nations’ international shipping agency announced Thursday that it is putting on hold a major effort to evacuate hundreds of ships and thousands of crew members through the Strait of Hormuz, following an attack on a vessel in the Gulf of Oman.
Arsenio Dominguez, the Secretary-General of the U.N.’s International Maritime Organization (IMO), confirmed the incident in an official statement. “I have been informed of an attack today in the Gulf of Oman on a vessel which passed through the Strait of Hormuz. This vessel did not transit under IMO’s evacuation framework,” he said.
Dominguez added that a temporary halt was necessary to ensure the safety of all ships involved. “I have decided to temporarily pause its implementation in order to reconfirm that the necessary safety guarantees continue to be in place for the ships on our evacuation list and all those in the region,” he stated.
The evacuation program had only just gotten underway on Tuesday. It was designed as a voluntary option, giving ships and their crews two possible routes to exit the Gulf — one passing through Iranian waters and another through Omani waters, with oversight provided by the United States, according to the IMO.
