Shafaq News- New York
The United Nations could deploy within 7–10 days a neutral mechanism to monitor commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz if the parties approve it, as prolonged disruption threatens to push nearly 45 million people into acute food insecurity, a senior UN official told Shafaq News.
Jorge Moreira da Silva, UN Under-Secretary-General, Executive Director of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and coordinator of the UN Task Force on the Strait of Hormuz, said the proposed system would register vessels, pre-approve cargo based on the goods carried, coordinate safe passage and monitor shipments at ports.
“We can have 45 million people facing acute food insecurity,” Moreira da Silva said, citing projections from the World Food Programme and other international organizations.
He said disruption in Hormuz posed a particular threat to global food security because roughly 20–30% of global fertilizer exports pass through the waterway. Higher transport, energy and fertilizer costs could hit developing and import-dependent countries hardest.
The proposed mechanism would draw on UN systems already used in Gaza and Yemen, as well as experience from the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
Moreira da Silva said vessels would be registered according to their cargo, while the UN would coordinate deconfliction, verify shipments at ports, track vessels and report the results. “This is basically a transparency mechanism, a confidence-building mechanism,” he said, adding that a neutral UN role could allow humanitarian and essential commercial traffic to continue even where the parties lack trust.
The UN has previously used similar monitoring and verification systems under Security Council Resolution 2720 for Gaza and through the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism for Yemen.
Moreira da Silva warned that simultaneous disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, Bab Al-Mandeb and the Black Sea were putting global energy and food supply chains under severe pressure.
He said previous global crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, showed that poorer countries and vulnerable populations suffer disproportionately from international supply shocks.
The task force is focused solely on safe maritime transit and is not involved in US-Iran negotiations over sanctions or other political disputes, he said.
Moreira da Silva, who has been holding talks with US, Iranian and Gulf officials, also said his team had no contact with Yemen’s Houthis.
He urged leaders attending the UN General Assembly in New York this week to use the gathering to advance a diplomatic agreement that would allow the mechanism to begin operating.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres established the Hormuz task force in March to develop a system for safe and predictable maritime transit of fertilizers and other critical supplies. UNOPS said the mechanism is designed to prevent disruption in the strait from developing into a wider humanitarian crisis.
For Shafaq News, Mustafa Hashem, Washington, DC.