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STORY: UN / IMO STRAIT OF HORMUZ
TRT: 3:38
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 26 JUNE 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
26 JUNE 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO):
“We receive confirmation of a ship that was hit after transiting the Strait of Hormuz on the southern part of the Strait. And of course, thankfully, there were no casualties. But of course, the moment that there is any negative impact on shipping and seafarers, I took the decisions following further consultations with some countries, particularly in the region, to pause temporarily. The evacuation framework.”
4. Wide shot, press briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO):
“I'm working currently, diligently, with several parties of beginning in conversations, from the countries in the region, the membership of the Organization and in particular Oman, the United States and Iran, in order to find these guarantees that were provided at the beginning, that the vessels will not be targeted in that flow of trade will continue, particularly to evacuate the seafarers, and as soon as I get further confirmations of that, we're ready to re-initiate the process of evacuation. In the meantime, one of the main reasons as well for establishing these mechanisms is in order to maintain an orderly approach an evacuation in a way that we avoid any collisions on an area that, of course, is very narrow, as it is the Strait of Hormuz.”
6. Wide shot, press briefing room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO):
“While we have paused the evacuation of IMO, there are still some vessels that are transiting in the southern part of the Strait of Hormuz. And this is why it's important to reactivate the mechanism, in order to provide more safety guarantees for all the vessels that are waiting to transit. “
8. Wide shot, press briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO):
“This particular vessel, what I can confirm to you, is that it was not contacting the authorities in Oman in order to transit following the evacuation framework. That's what I make that mention, the vessel still took at some point their own risk assessments in order to transit the corridor.”
10. Wide shot, press briefing room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO):
“In relation to the guarantees, it's in particular the safety of the vessels and the seafarers that there will be no action like the one that we that that took place yesterday in relation to the possibility of threatening a vessel or attacking a vessel for using one or another corridor. Those are the guarantees that I'm looking to reinstate in order for those to resume operations.”
12. Wide shot, press briefing room
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO):
“The most recent information that I have from this morning. And again, I still need to fully verify, but four vessels were reported to transit using the northern corridor, and eleven vessels transit through the southern corridor. It is important to also highlight that the southern corridor, the United States together with Oman, have continued to provide some assistance to the vessels. So even though the mechanism from IMO has been paused for the time being, there are still vessels that are actually utilizing the southern corridor in order to transit out of the Strait of Hormuz.”
14. Wide shot, press briefing room
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO):
“Shipping should not be used as collateral in any conflict and we all have been experiencing the very negative impacts on the economy, on food security whenever shipping gets affected.”
16. Wide shot, press briefing room
Following an attack on a vessel in the Gulf of Oman, IMO has decided to temporarily pause its evacuation operation pending further clarity, the Secretary-General of the Organization said.
The chief of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Arsenio Dominguez spoke to reporters today (26 Jun) via video link from London.
Dominguez said he is currently working with several parties, in particular Oman, the United States and Iran, to reconfirm that the necessary safety guarantees continue to be in place for the ships on its evacuation list and all those in the region.
The evacuation was paused on Thursday (25 Jun) after a container ship, the Ever Lovely, was struck while transiting the strait near Oman’s coast.
Dominguez explained that the attacked vessel did not transit under IMO’s evacuation framework, adding that the Organization is waiting on the investigation of exactly what happened to the vessel.
The IMO chief 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.
He said, “while we have paused the evacuation of IMO, there are still some vessels that are transiting in the southern part of the Strait of Hormuz. And this is why it's important to reactivate the mechanism, in order to provide more safety guarantees for all the vessels that are waiting to transit. “
Dominguez also said, “the most recent information that I have from this morning. And again, I still need to fully verify, but four vessels were reported to transit using the northern corridor, and eleven vessels transit through the southern corridor.”
He continued, “it is important to also highlight that the southern corridor, the United States together with Oman, have continued to provide some assistance to the vessels. So even though the mechanism from IMO has been paused for the time being, there are still vessels that are actually utilizing the southern corridor in order to transit out of the Strait of Hormuz.”
The IMO Secretary-General reiterated, “shipping should not be used as collateral in any conflict and we all have been experiencing the very negative impacts on the economy, on food security whenever shipping gets affected.”
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) said that 115 ships carrying roughly 2,500 crew members had left the Gulf during the first three and a half days of the operation. The figures offered the first concrete measure of an evacuation launched this week to rescue some 11,000 mariners stranded aboard 600 vessels since the war pitting Israel and the United States against Iran erupted in late February.
