The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has temporarily suspended its evacuation operation in the Strait of Hormuz following an attack on a vessel in the Gulf of Oman, the UN agency said.
"I have decided to temporarily pause its implementation in order to reconfirm that the necessary safety guarantees continue to be in place for the ships on our evacuation list and all those in the region," IMO Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement.
He said the decision followed an attack on Thursday on a vessel in the Gulf of Oman that had transited the Strait of Hormuz.
"This vessel did not transit under IMO's evacuation framework," he said.
The London-based UN agency did not provide further details about the ship or the nature of the attack. According to the international shipping association BIMCO, the vessel was a commercial ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz via the coastal traffic zone off Oman.
Several US media outlets, citing American officials, reported that Iran's Revolutionary Guards had attacked a Singapore-flagged cargo vessel in the strait. The Washington Post said the ship had been struck by an Iranian drone.
"I have always reiterated that the safety of the seafarers remains paramount. Therefore, to ensure a coordinated approach and navigational safety, the evacuation plan will be paused until further clarity is obtained," Dominguez said.
The IMO announced on Tuesday that it planned to evacuate more than 11,000 seafarers stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, with the first vessels passing through the waterway later that day.
The strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for global trade, had been effectively blocked for weeks after Iran began threatening and attacking civilian vessels, followed by a US blockade of Iranian ports.
The disruption came in the wake of US and Israeli strikes on Iran. Washington and Tehran have since reached a provisional agreement to end hostilities, with talks on a final peace settlement ongoing.
Shipping traffic through the strait was showing the first signs of normalization on Thursday, analyses from data providers showed, though uncertainty remains over mines that Iranian forces are reported to have laid in the key waterway.
