Sawt Falasteen - UN shipping body urges 'safe maritime corridor' in Gulf

Following two days of urgent talks in London convened due to the Middle East war, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) said the "safe maritime corridor" should be established as "a provisional and urgent measure".

IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said the "humanitarian corridor" would "evacuate ships in the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz".

The UN agency -- responsible for regulating international shipping safety -- said the focus should be on "those currently confined within the Gulf region through peaceful means and on a voluntary basis".

The IMO's 40-member council included the demand among several "decisions" that accompanied a 17-point declaration addressing various aspects of the crisis.

However, such calls are non-binding.

It came as around 20,000 seafarers remained stranded on approximately 3,200 vessels west of the Strait of Hormuz, according to the UN body.

It says at least eight seafarers or dock workers have died in incidents in the region since the conflict began on February 28.

Iranian attacks on ships in the region have created an effective blockade of the crucial chokepoint, through which a fifth of global crude and liquified natural gas normally transits.

Alongside other strikes in the conflict, which has dramatically spiked oil prices and spooked markets.

- 'Condemned' -

The IMO council said in its declaration that members "strongly condemned the threats and attacks against vessels and purported closure of the Strait... by Iran, adversely affecting merchant and commercial vessels".

They demanded Tehran "immediately refrain" and -- alongside the call for a safe corridor -- requested a "coordinated international approach to the safety of navigation" in the region.

Iran, which is an IMO member but does not sit on its council, hit out at the declaration, branding it "one-sided, unfair, inaccurate and legally deficient".

"It condemns the victim state while disregarding the unlawful aggression that is the root cause of the present situation," its IMO delegate said, accusing the body of "politicisation".

Bahrain, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Singapore and the UAE had tabled the plan for "a framework to allow the safe evacuation of seafarers and ships stranded in the Gulf".

It won the support of the US among others.

The IMO said the measure "aims to protect the lives of seafarers" and mobilise trapped vessels while "avoiding military attacks".

Its declaration asked Dominguez to "collaborate with the relevant parties and take necessary immediate actions to initiate the establishment of the framework".

- 'Conversations' -

The IMO head said he "will take this instruction very seriously", calling the measure "of particular operational importance" which showed "we value seafarers".

"My first point of contact will be all the countries in the region in order to start the conversations on how such evacuation routes can be put in place," he later told reporters.

Earlier, six global powers -- including Britain, France, Germany and Japan -- said they were ready "to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz".

The grouping added they welcomed "the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning" but provided no further details.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius later said Berlin was "not ruling anything out".

But any contribution would depend on the security situation "after a ceasefire" and whether "we could participate within the framework of an international mandate or international cooperation", he noted.

At the IMO, the Cook Islands pressed Iran to confirm reported evidence that "there is a nascent ships registration system being set up for approved vessels to make safe passage through the Strait" of Hormuz.

"If there is safe passage, what are the terms and the conditions for such safe passage?" the South Pacific islands' delegate asked.

"I don't see how we can leave the council now without getting some clarity on this."

Iran's IMO representative declined the opportunity to respond.

J.AbuHassan--SF-PST