Shafaq News- Middle East

No state has the right to block innocent passage through international straits, International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez Velasco affirmed Monday, as the United Nations warned that a drop of more than 90% in tanker traffic through Hormuz is threatening food supplies across Asia and Africa.

Dominguez added that IMO was in talks with Iran and Oman to evacuate crew members from ships stranded in the waterway and coordinating with Gulf states to supply food to those on board.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said the near-total halt in shipping posed a direct threat to agricultural production and global food security. The UN Office for Project Services said intensive meetings had been held in New York over the past two weeks to develop a mechanism for the safe passage of fertilizer shipments through Hormuz, with Executive Director Jorge Moreira da Silva leading efforts to protect countries dependent on those supplies.

The US naval blockade of Hormuz took effect today with more than 15 warships deployed. President Trump warned that any vessel approaching the blockade zone would be "immediately destroyed," while the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, Iran's armed forces central command, warned that no port in the Gulf or the Sea of Oman would be safe if Iran's ports were targeted.

The blockade follows six weeks of conflict triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran, bringing shipping through the strait to a near-complete halt and threatening a fragile ceasefire.