UN agency pauses evacuation of ships through Strait of Hormuz after vessel hit

A United Nations agency paused the evacuation of ships through the Strait of Hormuz after a vessel was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman following the passage of several tankers that used a route backed by the UN.

The head of the International Maritime Organisation said the plan to move stranded ships out of the Persian Gulf through the strait will be on hold until the agency can confirm safety guarantees for the ships on the evacuation list and in the region.

It was unclear who launched the projectile or the type of vessel that was targeted.

The report of a strike on Thursday came hours after Iran threatened vessels to stop using the route through the strait without Tehran’s permission.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said the vessel sustained damage, but it reported no injuries or environmental impact in the attack off the coast of Oman.

The opening of an alternative passage through the vital waterway would relieve pressure on the world economy and remove Iran’s main source of leverage in ongoing peace talks with the US.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio, on a visit to the Gulf to reassure American allies, said Washington was committed to the new route and making sure ships were able to transit the strait.

“If that stops, then we’re going to have a problem,” Mr Rubio said earlier on Thursday.

Traffic through the strait increased in recent days but was still well below pre-war levels.

Oil on Thursday briefly dipped below its last pre-war price of just under 73 dollars per barrel, a sign that the market believes the situation was improving.

The US and Iran are still debating terms of an interim peace deal — from getting ships through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf to the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

Under the memorandum of understanding signed last week, the US and Iran have 60 days to iron out the details.

As talks are held behind closed doors, US President Donald Trump and Iranian leaders have seemed to negotiate in public, trading threats and claiming concessions the other side denies.

Meanwhile, a flare-up of fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants threatened the wider truce.

Lebanon says five people have been killed by Israeli strikes over the past two days.

Oil tankers, led by the Stoic Warrior vessel, sailed along the United Arab Emirates and then Oman early on Thursday, passing by Oman’s Musandam Peninsula fairly close to the shore.

The route was laid out by Oman and the International Maritime Organization, a UN agency.

North of the route is a corridor in the centre of the strait where ships had moved through freely before the war, transporting about a fifth of all the world’s oil and natural gas.

Iran said it mined that passage after the US and Israel attacked it on February 28.

At least one mine has been sighted there.

Though some ships had been getting out of the strait, with US military support, the UN agency’s effort is the latest to free trapped vessels.

The shipping company Maersk said its container ship, the Maersk Baltimore, and another chartered vessel made it out on Thursday.

Last week, 125 vessels crossed the strait, up from 33 the week before, according to marine data and analysis firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence.

According to S&P Global, Wednesday saw 78 transits, the most since the war began, but still below the daily pre-war average of 130 or more.

“Opportunistic operators — and there are many of them — emboldened by the lower transit risk, or at least the perceived lower transit risk, have begun chasing the backlog of trapped cargoes,” said Richard Meade, editor-in-chief at Lloyd’s List.

The naval arm of the Revolutionary Guard issued a warning on Thursday against using the route, carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency.

It said the new route was established without notice or coordination with Iran, calling it “unacceptable and completely dangerous”.

“The only authorised route for passing through the Strait of Hormuz is the one declared by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Iranian force said.

“Vessel traffic outside these routes is extremely dangerous and prohibited.”

“Violators will be dealt with”, it added, without elaborating.

On Wednesday, the Guard threatened one tanker over the radio, with a soldier warning, “You are in range of my missiles and maybe (I) fire on you”, according to the private security firm Ambrey.

Mr Rubio met with foreign ministers from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council to assure them that their interests would be protected in any agreement with Iran.

Those countries, including major energy producers reliant on the strait for exports, came under attack by Iran after the start of the war.

“There is no part in this deal that’s undertaken that in any way undermines the security, the stability or the prosperity of any of our partners in the Gulf region,” Mr Rubio said at the meeting in Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet.

Bahrain’s foreign minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani thanked the US for its support, saying that because of the agreement, “today we see a glimmer of hope for our region” but stressed that it was “critically important that Iran adheres to its obligations”.

Meanwhile, A lull in fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah that started on Sunday began to show cracks after Israel said it targeted Hezbollah militants.

Lebanon’s health ministry said on Thursday that three people were killed by an Israeli strike on a car in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah has called the recent strikes a ceasefire violation but has not retaliated.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the latest strike, which came as Lebanese and Israeli officials were in Washington discussing a proposed phased withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.

Israel’s military said on Thursday that a reservist soldier was killed and another hurt in southern Lebanon.

More than 4,000 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began in March, when the Lebanese militant group fired at Israel.

At least 37 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Lebanon or northern Israel during the fighting.