The United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO) plans to evacuate more than 11,000 sailors stranded in the Gulf due to the war between the United States and Israel against Iran.
IMO Director-General Arsenio Dominguez said the “large-scale operation” would be carried out in cooperation with Iran, Oman, the United States, other coastal countries in the region and the maritime industry.
“We have secured the necessary safety assurances and thoroughly verified safe sailing conditions to support these operations,” he added.
An interim agreement to end the conflict was signed last week, but the United States and Iran continue to clash over the details of the memorandum of understanding.
The United States said the memorandum of understanding included a guarantee that Iran’s nuclear weapons program would be inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“Iran has fully and completely agreed to the highest level of nuclear inspections into the future (indefinitely!!!), which will ensure ‘nuclear integrity,’” President Donald Trump wrote on social media on Tuesday.
Just before Trump took office, Iran said UN monitors would not be able to inspect nuclear facilities bombed by the United States and Israel last year.
In response, a U.S. official said, “Iran has agreed to strengthen IAEA inspections of remnants of its nuclear weapons program,” and that “the Iranian regime will say what it has to say for its domestic audience.”
“Iran will not negotiate with anyone about our defense capabilities under any circumstances,” Iranian President Massoud Fezeshkian said during a visit to Pakistan on Tuesday.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio began his Gulf tour on Tuesday in the United Arab Emirates and will also visit Kuwait and Bahrain, where U.S. military bases are located, to discuss a deal with Tehran.
The U.S. secretary of state warned Tuesday that no country would be allowed to impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz, following Iran’s push to impose fees on ships passing through.
“It is an international waterway. No country can impose tolls or charges on an international waterway. That is the existing international law,” he said upon arrival in the UAE.
“I don’t think there’s anyone around us who can convince us of that. I think every country in the region would agree with us.”
