A ship sails through the Strait of Hormuz near the beach in Bandar Abbas, Iran, June 11, 2026.
Amirhossein Khorgoy/Isna | via Reuters
After a ship was attacked in the Gulf of Oman, the International Maritime Organization suspended efforts to evacuate ships and crews stranded in the Middle East Gulf.
The suspension follows an attack by an unknown projectile on a container ship near the coast of Oman on Thursday, with US officials telling MS Now that Iran was behind the attack.
Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, said in a statement that evacuation plans were temporarily suspended “to reaffirm that the necessary security remains in place for the vessels on the evacuation list and for all vessels in the area.”
Asked about the response to the attack, a U.S. official said: “We are aware of these reports and are investigating them. President Trump has made clear that Iran cannot disrupt the free flow of traffic in the Strait.”
The IMO initiative, launched on Tuesday, aims to help hundreds of stranded ships and thousands of seafarers leave the Gulf via either the northern passage through Iranian waters or the southern passage through Omani waters under U.S. supervision, the IMO announced earlier this week.
The ship’s owners were seeking passage through the Strait of Hormuz after the United States and Iran signed an interim peace agreement suspending fighting for 60 days as negotiations for a permanent peace agreement progress. Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has partially recovered, but remains well below pre-war levels.
According to Lloyd’s List Intelligence, 125 ships passed through the Strait in the week following the ceasefire, the highest weekly traffic volume since the war began in late February.
Iran’s military on Wednesday warned ships not to use the IMO-approved southern passage, saying it was “unacceptable and dangerous” to establish new routes through the Strait of Hormuz without IMO approval as Tehran seeks to tighten its control over the vital energy waterway.
At least two ships made U-turns on their way out of the Middle East Gulf after Iran insisted the vessels use a route approved by Tehran, Lloyd’s said. Both used the southern route closest to the Omani coastline.
The attacked vessel flew the Singaporean flag and was owned by a shipping giant. evergreenAccording to Lloyd’s. Dominguez said in a statement that it did not pass under the IMO evacuation framework.
Evergreen, Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
— CNBC’s Akayla Gardner, Lim Hui Jie and Dan Mangan contributed to this report.
