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Attack halts evacuation
The UN International Maritime Organization paused its planned evacuation of more than 11,000 sailors stranded in the Strait of Hormuz after a cargo ship passing through the waterway was attacked.
BBC reported that IMO chief Arsenio Dominguez said several boats had already been evacuated, but the agency wanted to ensure that "necessary safety guarantees" would continue to be in place.
The British maritime security agency UKMTO said a ship had been struck 7.5 nautical miles southeast of Oman's port of Dahit by "an unknown projectile" and that no casualties were reported.
DW said the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) received a report that a "cargo vessel has been hit on the starboard side by an unknown projectile, causing damage to the bridge."
Iran rejects routes
As the UN evacuation plan moved forward, Iran rejected UN-backed plans for mass evacuation of ships through the strait, creating "a new threat to the free passage of commercial ships through the strait."
The Guardian said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps rejected the coordinates of two new temporary shipping evacuation lanes announced by the UN’s International Maritime Organization in conjunction with Oman, and described alternative transit routes as "unacceptable and completely dangerous."
The Hill reported that confirmed strait crossings rose to 70 on Thursday, an increase of 105 percent relative to a day prior, with commercial vessels accounting for 53 of those transits.
The Hill also said the IMO launched an operation to evacuate more than 11,000 seafarers and that ships can pass through the waterway using two routes — a northern route close to the Iranian coastline and a southern route through the waters of Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
What’s at stake next
The UN-linked evacuation effort is tied to the Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Iran, with the IMO saying it will carry out the evacuation plan "in close cooperation" with Iran, Oman, other coastal states, the U.S. and the maritime industry.
“Istanbul: Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman said that no single party can control the Strait of Hormuz, and he voiced his country's rejection of any Iranian plans to impose fees on navigation”
UN News said the plan is designed so that "Between 500 and 600 commercial ships will be involved" and that each vessel will be assigned a transit group and allocated a specific departure day.
Al-Quds Al-Arabi quoted Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman saying that "no single party can control the Strait of Hormuz" and that Qatar rejects any Iranian plan to impose charges on navigation in the strait.
In the same Al-Quds Al-Arabi account, he said shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is expected to return to its normal levels within 30 days of the start of the implementation of the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran.
