Maritime. Photo: AFP (file)
LONDON:
Gulf states and Western nations strongly criticised Iran at an emergency meeting Wednesday of the UN’s maritime body, convened amid growing fears for thousands of stranded ships and seafarers.
Numerous nations used opening statements at the International Maritime Organization gathering to lambast Tehran’s response to US-Israeli strikes, which has seen Iran target Gulf countries and commercial shipping.
That has crippled maritime trade in or near the Strait of Hormuz, leaving around 20,000 seafarers stuck on approximately 3,200 vessels west of the crucial chokepoint, according to the IMO.
“Qatar resolutely condemns the attacks and threats from … Iran perpetrated against merchant vessels and seafarers as well as shipping infrastructure in the region,” the Gulf state’s IMO delegate told the meeting.
The United Arab Emirates called Iran’s actions “unprovoked, unjustifiable, indiscriminate and wholly unlawful”. Saudi Arabia branded them “utterly unacceptable and unjustifiable under any circumstances”.
The United States urged countries to “push back against the cynical actions of a regime that seeks to sow economic and geopolitical instability as a strategy for political self-preservation”.
“We should not allow a country to attempt to degrade the well-being of civilians around the world through leveraging a critical international waterway,” the American IMO representative added.
In response, Iran blamed “the recent unlawful use of force and military aggression by the United States and the Israeli regime”.
“Iran did not initiate this war,” its IMO delegate told the gathering. “Responsibility for the human, material, and maritime consequences of the present situation rests with those who launched this unlawful aggression.”
An effective Iranian blockade of the Hormuz Strait — through which a fifth of global crude and liquified natural gas normally transits — has dramatically spiked oil prices and spooked markets.
Meanwhile at least 21 ships have been hit, targeted or reported attacks since the start of the conflict, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a naval monitor.
IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez kicked off the gathering at its London headquarters — open to all 176 member states as well as dozens of NGOs and maritime industry bodies — by urging members to focus on “practical measures”.
