The United Nations says at least 25 seafarers have been killed in and around the Strait of Hormuz since the war between the United States, Israel and Iran began in February.
Khaled Khiari, the UN assistant secretary-general for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, gave the figures during a briefing to the UN Security Council on Friday, covering the period up to 11 November.
The UN’s International Maritime Organization tracked 136 security incidents involving vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Middle East between 1 March and 11 November. October was the worst month so far, with 35 incidents, followed by 10 in November.
‘This situation cannot be allowed to become the new normal,’ Mr Khiari told the Council, urging the ‘full restoration of maritime navigation in the region’. He said civilian vessels and commercial shipping ‘must not become targets’, adding that ‘every day brings new reports of maritime incidents’.
His remarks came as Iranian authorities reported on Saturday that three oil tankers had struck mines while travelling through what Tehran called ‘unauthorised’ or ‘restricted’ areas of the strait, catching fire. Iran’s navy warned that ‘any offending tanker that travels in the restricted area east of the Strait of Hormuz will be set on fire by hitting naval mines’, in a statement carried by state broadcaster IRIB.
Tehran has said the strait will not reopen until the US meets its demands, including an end to the US naval blockade of Iran’s ports, the lifting of economic sanctions, the release of Iranian frozen funds, an end to fighting on all fronts, and an explicit announcement of an end to the war.
The US military says it has cleared the strait’s main shipping routes of mines and that the waterway is open for commercial shipping.
Shipping through the strait is about 65 percent below pre-war levels, according to the latest report from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations.
Mr Khiari warned that ‘the present maritime arrangements in the Middle East remain costly, unpredictable, and unsafe’, and that disruption to shipping was driving up energy, transport and insurance costs, fuelling inflation and threatening food security.
Source: Al Jazeera — https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/14/un-says-25-seafarers-killed-in-around-hormuz-since-february
