London, June 26 (IANS) Nearly 2,500 seafarers aboard 115 vessels have been evacuated from the Strait of Hormuz since the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) launched an evacuation operation for stranded seafarers earlier this week, IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said on Friday.
Speaking at an online press conference, Dominguez said the preliminary figures covered the first three-and-a-half days of the evacuation operation.
The IMO on Tuesday announced the evacuation framework, recommending the use of a northern route communicated by Iran and a southern route communicated by Oman, Xinhua news agency reported.
On Thursday, however, the UN maritime body suspended the evacuation after a vessel was attacked in the Gulf of Oman, saying it needed to further assess whether the security guarantees underpinning the operation remained in place.
Shipping data showed that some vessels continued to transit the Strait of Hormuz after the suspension of the IMO operation.
Responding to a question from Xinhua, Dominguez said Iran was still maintaining operations on the northern route, while the United States continued to assist shipping on the southern route.
“What is important for the vessels is to carry out the risk assessment before they make any final decision,” he said, urging shipowners and operators to carefully assess the risks.
He added that the IMO would only resume the evacuation operation once it had sufficient assurances that commercial vessels would not come under attack.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi on Friday underlined his country’s position on maritime navigation rules and transit arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz under vague arrangements, parallel routes, or decision-making outside Iran’s considerations as the coastal state is not guaranteed,” Gharibabadi wrote on X.
“Any valid framework must be based on coordination with Iran and the provisions of Paragraph 5 of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding. Otherwise, the result will be the suspension of the designated parallel route,” he added.
–IANS
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