UN Reports 25 Seafarer Deaths Around Strait of Hormuz as Maritime Attacks Escalate

“The situation cannot become the new normal,” said the UN’s Khaled Khiari, as Iran reported three more vessels hitting mines.

14 Nov 2026

At least 25 seafarers have been killed in and around the Strait of Hormuz since the US-Israeli war on Iran began in February, the United Nations has said.

Khaled Khiari, UN assistant secretary-general for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, presented the figures covering the period through November 11 during a Security Council briefing on Friday.

“This situation cannot be allowed to become the new normal,” Khiari said, calling for the “full restoration of maritime navigation in the region.”

He noted that security incidents in and around Hormuz have continued to rise, with October recording the highest number since the conflict began.

The UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) recorded 136 security incidents involving vessels in Hormuz and the wider Middle East between March 1 and November 11. Of those, 35 occurred in October and 10 in November.

“Every day brings new reports of maritime incidents,” Khiari said. “These incidents are unacceptable. Civilian vessels and commercial shipping must not become targets.”

His remarks came as Iranian authorities reported on Saturday that three oil tankers had struck mines while traveling through “unauthorized” or “restricted” areas of Hormuz and caught fire.

Tehran has warned vessels that they must obtain Iranian approval to cross the waterway during the conflict and has repeatedly attacked ships accused of violating its protocol.

“Any offending tanker that travels in the restricted area east of the Strait of Hormuz will be set on fire by hitting naval mines,” Iran’s navy warned in a statement carried by the country’s IRIB broadcaster.

Iranian officials have insisted the strait will not be open until the US meets its demands, including an end to the US naval blockade of Iran’s ports, the lifting of economic sanctions, the release of Iranian frozen funds, an end to fighting on all fronts, and an explicit announcement that the war has ended.

The US military claims it has cleared the strait’s main routes of mines and that the waterway is open for commercial shipping.

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is approximately 65 percent below pre-war levels, according to the latest report from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).

In his remarks to the UN Security Council, Khiari said “the present maritime arrangements in the Middle East remain costly, unpredictable, and unsafe.”

“Disruptions to maritime navigation continue to have significant global economic consequences, driving up energy, transport and insurance costs, fueling inflation and threatening food security amid severely constrained fertilizer shipments.”

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