IMO pauses Hormuz evacuation after cargo ship hit near Oman

The International Maritime Organization paused its Strait of Hormuz evacuation initiative after a cargo vessel was struck by an unknown projectile off Oman, a fresh blow to one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes. UK Maritime Trade Operations said the attack happened about 7.5 nautical miles southeast of Dahit in Oman’s Musandam exclave, and no casualties were reported.

The ship hit was not part of the evacuation effort, Arsenio Dominguez said, but the strike forced the U.N. agency to stop a plan that had only begun on June 23. The operation was designed to move more than 11,000 seafarers stranded in the region and hundreds of ships stuck in the Persian Gulf amid the Iran conflict. By the morning of June 25, 57 ships carrying an estimated 1,100 seafarers had already transited under the route.

Dominguez said the evacuation would stay on hold until the agency could confirm safety guarantees for ships on the list and others in the region. The process had been built in close cooperation with Iran, Oman, other coastal states, the United States and the maritime industry, underscoring how dependent the route is on even limited coordination across rivals and commercial operators.

The pause added to the sense of instability around the Strait of Hormuz, through which a major share of the world’s seaborne oil passes. Any breakdown there quickly ripples far beyond the Gulf, forcing shippers to rethink routes, insurers to price in fresh risk and energy traders to brace for disruption that can hit fuel costs, freight rates and supply chains well outside the region.

The strike also came after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that vessels using a new route without Tehran’s approval were acting in an “unacceptable and dangerous” way, and said ships must contact the IRGC Navy on its designated channel before transiting. That warning, followed within hours by the attack off Oman, sharpened fears that shipping lanes could again be targeted just as efforts to restore normal traffic were trying to take hold. Some reports said U.S. officials believed Iran was behind the attack, and some identified the vessel as a Singapore-flagged container ship.