The United Nations’ maritime safety body has paused a planned evacuation operation for more than 11,000 sailors stranded in the Strait of Hormuz after a cargo ship passing through the narrow waterway was attacked, the BBC reported. The decision, announced after the episode, underlines how quickly security risks in the region are changing as international traffic resumes following a period of disruption tied to the wider US-Israel war against Iran.
According to the BBC, the evacuation plan was launched only this week, after the strait reopened. UN International Maritime Organization (IMO) officials said the scheme was designed as a large-scale operation to get seafarers out of the danger zone, with coordination involving Iran, Oman, the United States and other coastal states as well as the wider maritime industry. In practice, hundreds of ships and thousands of sailors had been trapped in the Gulf since February, when the conflict escalation disrupted normal movements and left crews unable to transit safely.
But the attack that prompted the pause complicated the operation’s premise. In a statement attributed to IMO officials, the UN said the vessel that was attacked did not meet the conditions for coverage under the IMO’s evacuation framework. Dominguez, referenced by the BBC, suggested that while the incident occurred in the same critical corridor, it fell outside the specific evacuation parameters laid out for participating routes and ships.
The pause comes at a time when shipping activity has been attempting to normalize. CNBC reported earlier that oil prices were moving lower even as some strait shipments resumed, reflecting partial easing in supply concerns. Data cited by CNBC indicated that crude shipments through the Strait of Hormuz rose to their highest levels since the February start of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran after a ceasefire deal reopened the waterway—evidence that commercial traffic is returning, at least in segments.
Even so, security remains fragile. CNBC noted that a cargo vessel was hit near Oman on Thursday, even while shipments began to move again. In that context, the UN shipping agency suspended its voluntary evacuation scheme, mirroring the broader decision to halt planned extractions of stranded crews. Two US officials told Reuters, as summarized by CNBC, that Iran fired on the cargo ship while it attempted to pass through the strait, adding further dispute to the already volatile attribution landscape surrounding attacks.
Beyond the immediate operational shift, the UN’s effort has faced political resistance. The BBC said the plan is fiercely opposed by the United States, where Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that no country should be allowed to impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz. Rubio described the waterway as an international waterway, signaling that any attempt to control passage or levy charges would be unacceptable to Washington. That stance places additional pressure on diplomatic efforts aimed at restoring safe, open navigation, particularly as states seek frameworks for commercial transit under threat conditions.
Elsewhere in the region, the political backdrop continues to influence what commercial operators and crews believe about near-term safety. CNN reported that Tehran denied it was negotiating directly with the US over the waterway, even as President Donald Trump said earlier that the strait would reopen “soon.” CNN also cited a Gulf official saying there was a “50-50” chance that Iran and Oman would reach a deal by Friday, pointing to ongoing negotiations that may shape commercial shipping terms and practical arrangements for passage.
The resumption of traffic—even partial—does not eliminate the risk that sparked the UN’s evacuation pause. Reports of attacks in the surrounding maritime arena keep investors, insurers and ship operators on alert. Crypto Briefing said a Mozambique-flagged LPG tanker was attacked in Iranian waters, with an Indian embassy statement indicating that 28 Indian crew members were safe. While that incident occurred near the critical chokepoint linking the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, it added to the sense that maritime disruptions in the wider theatre can spill directly into the strait’s traffic flows.
As a result, crews may remain in limbo while authorities decide what conditions trigger evacuation support and which vessels fall under or outside the UN framework. For the UN and the IMO, pausing the operation may be a way to preserve resources and avoid drawing the organization into an expanding pattern of incidents that fall beyond its operational coverage. For shipping companies, the message is that normalization is not linear: a single attack can pause coordinated withdrawal plans and affect routing decisions for days.
Market and operational signals suggest that timing matters. CNBC reported that trade pressures and concerns about how long the strait stays open continued to influence movement and pricing, even as some tankers and other vessels exited the stranded cluster. That interplay of supply signals and risk perception is now being tested again after the attack near Oman and the UN’s suspension.
With more than 11,000 sailors originally targeted for evacuation, the pause highlights a central dilemma: balancing humanitarian and safety measures against the uncertainty of where and how attacks occur. Unless a clear shift emerges—either in the security situation or in the classification of vessels under the IMO framework—the stranded crews may need to wait, while coastal states, the UN, and major maritime stakeholders continue to assess whether the strait is safe enough to sustain both commercial transit and contingency plans.
For now, the UN’s next move remains contingent on whether future incidents align with the IMO’s evacuation framework and on broader political developments around transit arrangements through the Strait of Hormuz. With the United States emphasizing freedom of passage and opposing any tolling, and with regional negotiations between Iran and Oman under close watch, the pause is likely to reverberate across shipping schedules, insurance assessments, and the immediate prospects for crews caught between reopening and renewed danger.
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