Press Conference: Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on the Strait of Hormuz

If we could put our guest, Mr. Dominguez, on the screen, please. Excellent. Secretary-General, can you hear us?

Yes, I can, loud and clear.

Perfect. Thank you very much. We're delighted to be joined by our Senhor Dominguez, who you know is the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization. He's speaking to you from London in his office where the IMO is based. Secretary-General, we have a few journalists in the room, but we have a lot online, so we will let you make some opening remarks and then we will take some questions. Thank you very much. Go ahead, sir, please.

Thank you.

Thank you. I'll keep my remarks very short in order to allow the time for questions. I think that will be better. First of all, Thanks for the interest in everything that is happening here. I want to highlight that I do appreciate your support in highlighting in particular the hardship and all the stress that the innocent seafarers have been going through during this conflict. And of course, the more that you can reiterate that, the more that we recognize the humanitarian effect that this conflict is having in shipping, first on the seafarers aboard the vessels and then beyond that with all the countries, and the communities that are being affected. Um, we recently, early this week, after several rounds of negotiations and following the instructions and decisions of the IMO Council a couple of months ago, uh, together with the Sultanate of Oman, we launched the evacuation framework in order to assist the 11,000 seafarers still stranded in around, uh, 600 vessels inside the Strait of Hormuz. We're starting to get good numbers immediately in relation to the transit. Right now, there are two transits that we have communicated: the north transit in the Strait of Hormuz, which is operated by Iran, and in our website you will find all the information of the steps that have to be taken for ships to transit that corridor. The southern part of the Strait of Hormuz, which is with the assistance of Oman and the United States, and of course with IMO in relation to the evacuation framework. We cannot use at present the traffic separation scheme that has been established by IMO since 1968, because in accordance to the Memorandum of Understanding signed between Iran and the United States, as well as information that we have from several countries, The— there's a presence of mines, which of course is a hazard for vessels. And until that part of the straits is demined, it is not safe to do so. And for us, any transit, any mechanism that can be put in place for the resumption of trade has to provide the securities for the seafarers. Yesterday, we received first some notifications of messages that were sent by INRC to the vessels in the region that using a non— an unauthorized corridor would actually reflect in legal sanctions. I needed to understand what the legal sanctions were. But then afterwards, we received 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. I'm working currently diligently with several parties. I've been in conversations from the countries in the region, the membership of the organization, and in particularly Oman, the United States, and Iran, in order to find these guarantees that were provided at the beginning that vessels will not be targeted and 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 reinitiate 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 in 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. And just to conclude, from the moment that we launched the evacuation framework at the beginning of the week, to this morning. And I want to quote that the numbers that I will provide you are not completely final because I still need some time to verify any transits that have been taking place this morning. We have been able to evacuate at least around 115 vessels. That's 115 have evacuated in the last 3.5 days, representing around 2,500 seafarers. That have now safely left the Strait of Hormuz. Whilst we have paused the evacuation from Miami, there's 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. I'll stop here. And then I will take any questions that you may have.

Thank you very much. We'll first go in the room and then we'll take some questions online. Ephraim, please introduce yourself.

Thank you so much. My name is Ephraim Kusaifi with Arab News Daily, and on behalf of the United Nations Correspondents Association, thank you for speaking with us today. I have two questions for you. You said that the evacuation plan will be paused until further clarity is obtained. May I ask what kind of clarity exactly are you seeking? Where will the clarity come from? So what does clarity sound like exactly? Can you tell us in details? And second, you said that the Ever Lovely, the ship that got hit, did not transit under IMO's evacuation framework. You didn't give us any more details. Can you tell us what happened exactly? Why did it not? What happened exactly? Thank you.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Thank you. I'll start with the latter question. We're still on the investigation of exactly what happened to the vessel, but it was hit yesterday after it had transited the Strait of Hormuz on the southern corridor. The majority of the vessels are reporting either to the coordinates that we have provided that are being operated by Oman, or they are responding or contacting the authorities in Iran in order to use the Northern Corridor. 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 mentioning. The vessel still took at some point their own risk assessment in order to transit the corridor. 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 took place yesterday in relation to the possibilities 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.

Go ahead.

Thank you very much. Bisan Abu Kwake with Al Jazeera Arabic.

Just to further clarify, what are the talks talks looking like that you are having with different parties to get these guarantees and actually get this evacuation back in place?

This is the normal process of multilateralism and dialogue that we have in place. I'm in contact with the authorities, in particular of Oman, Iran, and the United States, that have been heavily engaged in supporting IMO. But this also goes beyond all the countries of the organizations. And the shipping industry in order to get those messages across and find those guarantees, particularly on the safety of the seafarers. There's several rounds of negotiations that we're having in relation to the implementation of the evacuation corridors and also at the same time focusing all the support that has been provided to this action for IMO. I can, I can give you an example of the statement that was issued yesterday by the United States and all the GCC countries in support of the activities of this evacuation corridor in order to provide a process for the innocent seafarers to leave the region safely.

Thank you. We'll now go online. Yoshita Singh, Press Trust of India.

Thank you. Thank you, Steph. Thank you, Mr. Secretary-General, for the briefing. This is Yoshita Singh with Press Trust of India. A large number of seafarers that have been caught in this conflict are from India. There have been Indian casualties as well. 3 Indian seafarers lost their lives recently in the attack by the US Navy. I just wanted to get your thoughts on, has IMO spoken to some of these seafarers, especially those from India? What are some of the concerns and conversations you're having with them? And, what that they have shared and also, you know, the plans to ensure that obviously every seafarer, whether it's from India, from any other country, is safe and secure in these times.

Thank you. Seafarers have been, of course, the priority of all the work that IMO and myself have been carried out. It is regrettable that 14 seafarers have actually lost their lives in more than 40 attacks. On different vessels during the conflict. And I have the opportunity as well to speak to a few seafarers that actually have left the region and have shared all the information and the difficulties that they have gone through. The main focus of my actions have been working with the countries in the region, the flag states of all those vessels, as well as the nationalities of the seafarers and the shipowners, to continue to provide support to the seafarers that are still stuck there. The supplies from water, fuel for the vessels, as well as food and medical assistance to even remotely manage to contact their families so they can still have those connections. And of course, I also learned of how difficult— not only how difficult it's been for them to be in an area with so much danger and some uncertainty, but at the same time how resilient they are in supporting each other. One of the key messages, and this is what I started with out here, is that seafarers feel forgotten, particularly for the global media and from everyone around the world. And whenever they turn on the news, they listen to how this conflict is really being negative for the countries, for the global economy, the fuel price, etc., and not so much attention on the innocent seafarers. So for me, the key message is, is very loud and clear. We need to look after the seafarers better, and shipping should not be used as collateral in any geopolitical conflict, affect innocent people like the seafarers, but also innocent people around the world that get affected by conflicts where they're not even engaged in.

Thank you. Benny Avni, New York Sun. Benny.

Yes, two quick questions. First of all, I heard what you said, that you don't have the exact data from today. But as far as you know, has there been any ship movement since yesterday's attack in either the northern but mostly in the southern corridor? And secondly, I know that you're not party to the MOU, but as an observer, do you think that yesterday's attack violates the MOU's paragraph 5?

To the first question, yes, the most recent information that I have from this morning, and again, I still need to fully verify, but 4 vessels were reported to transit using the Northern Corridor and 11 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 for Myanmar is not— it's been paused for the time being, there's still vessels that are actually utilizing the southern corridor in order to transit out of the Strait of Hormuz. When it comes to the— your question about interpretation of whether paragraph 5 of the MOU has been violated, I don't think that that's a question for me to answer or to interpret. I'm focusing on how we can actually use the progress that is happening at the broader scale of things, starting with the MOU and the further conversations that have been taken in seeing how we can then use those positive steps into the evacuations of the seafarers, the demining of the Strait of Hormuz, and then resumption of trade in the way that it was happening before the conflict.

Thank you. We'll go to Farnaz and then Alice from the FT. Farnaz, go ahead.

Hello. Thank you very much for this briefing. I wanted to know whether you are in regular contact with the Iranians. You coordinate when you're organizing safe passage as part of the plan for IMO to coordinate with the Iranians. And what are they telling you in terms of safe passage of ships and when, you know, things can resume to normal? Thank you.

I will have not started the, the implementation of the evacuation framework until there were, there were conversations and guarantees that from the authorities, particularly when it comes to Iran, Oman and the United States, that have been assisting me greatly in this, that they will be safe for vessels to, to cross. And of course, my direct point of contact with Iran is always through the embassy here in London, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Iran, which of course is the one that has direct representation and communications with international organizations from the UN, such as IMO. And of course, that's what I'm working on, that we receive those guarantees. We always take on board any concerns. I maintain constant communications with all the parties. And as soon as I am comfortable with the communications that I receive from them, that this is something that can continue, that will go on, and that the vessels, the transit of the vessels will be respected regardless of the corridor that they decide to take, the northern or the southern corridor, then we will reactivate it.

So in other words, you are independently determining which corridors are safe, or are you doing that in coordination with— or is Iran determining in coordination with you? Like, who's deciding?

Here?

I don't, I don't work in isolation. I think it's important to recognize that this is a joint effort. And that's why I speak regularly with all the member states that I am on. There's several countries that work with me. I can even mention, for example, the Coalition of the Willing, the United Kingdom, as well as France, that are using their diplomatic channels to also send the same messages. This is not something where I'm going to make a final decision. On the, on the daily basis, I'm also speaking to the industry representatives that they, that they speak to their operators. The more information that we get, the more information that then I have in place in order to make sure that the countries are all ready to continue the evacuation of the vessels.

Thank you.

All right. We'll go to Alice from the FT and Brilliant.

Thank you. Thank you for this briefing. And I've got two questions, one shorter, one longer. What have you heard from Iran since the attack yesterday? Have they said anything about a resumption of the evacuation plan or anything of that sort? And then do you foresee a situation where we have to accept a regime whereby Iran and Oman are paid for management of the strait simply to avoid this leverage being used again in future in the way that Iran has?

Thanks.

On the first one, I'm still in communications with the parties in the region, in particular with Iran. And as soon as I have more information from them as well and the guarantees that I'm looking forward to receive, we will then resume. When it comes to what is the future of the Strait of Hormuz, I'm working on step by step here. Because this is, again, similar to the previous response. This is not something that we will work in isolation. My first priority is the evacuation of the seafarers. The next priority, which is in line with the MOU, is, of course, the demining of the Strait of Hormuz. Then we need to address aspects of comments that have been raised in relation to the management of the Strait of Hormuz and how that can be improved for the future. But all this is also linked to the conversations that go beyond the remit of the organization, which is in relation to the technical aspects of implementation of the MOU. So I prefer to focus on the first steps, make the necessary progress, and that would allow us to reach the goal that we all want, which is to resume operations in the Strait of Hormuz to the pre-conflict.

Thank you. We'll go back to the room, Gabriel, and then we'll go back online with the Saudi Press Agency. Go ahead, Gabriel.

Hi, thank you, Mr. Secretary General. This is Gabriel Elizondo from Al Jazeera English News Channel. Question for you, sir. The ship that was hit was on the southern route, the one backed by Oman and the United States, not Iran. Does that tell you that Iran is enforcing its claim that only its own north corridor is authorized? Is the south route safe to use at all right now? And a follow-up to something you said in your opening remarks. You said that Iran— you said Iran warned that using a, quote, unauthorized route would bring, quote, legal sanctions, and you needed to understand more of what that meant. Did you get any sort of clarification from Iran on that? Thank you.

Thank you. Those are the conversations that I'm having right now. This happened yesterday. And of course, as soon as I get further information on these kind of questions, which I've already posed, it's what would allow me to work with the rest of the parties in order to resume the evacuation framework. When it comes to the safeness of the routes, first of all, we do the analysis in relation to the safety of navigation on both routes, the coordinates, the geographical situations. The charting of the region, because that is what for us provides that safety aspect. And many vessels have continued to actually sail through both routes without any incident since we started at the beginning. That's why I'm looking to receive further information of the reasonings for this attack and exactly what was the nature of it in order to come to a more informed conclusion. I wouldn't want to speculate right now.

Thank you. We'll go to Saudi Press Agency and then Isabel from Libération. Go ahead, Abdullah.

Yes, hello. I am from SNA, Arabian newspaper. So, Mr. Secretary General, I realize that my question is not directly related to the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, but it's concerning the broader maritime security environment in the region. In addition to the security risk in the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, and Gulf of Aden, we have recently seen the hacking of FISAL of the Yemeni coast and its diversion to Somalia. Does the IMO see this as an indication of increasing maritime security threats in the region? And what additional support can the organization provide to the coastal states, including the Yemeni Ministry of Transport? Transport to strengthen maritime safety and protect the safe areas.

Thank you.

Piracy, it's something that is not new to IMO. And in fact, in the early 2010s, when piracy off the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden was at its height, the organization worked very closely with the shipping industry and we developed best management practices that introduced operational mechanisms as well as assistance that the vessels can have on board, including privately armed security personnel in order to repel these kind of attacks. Similarly, there are several countries, as well as operations like Atalanta from the European Union, that have deployed and maintained safety and maintained naval assets in order to provide assistance to the vessels. What we have done recently, now that there has been an increase in the acts of piracy off the coast of Somalia and Yemen, as well as the Gulf of Aden, is reiterate this call to all the ships traveling and doing that region— through that region— to implement not only the risk assessment, but also the best management practice that exists in place. And I can tell you that in the last couple of weeks, there are several attempts to attacks of the ships, but none has been successful. Thanks to the implementation of these measures. So what we need is more visibility and maintain the awareness in relation to piracy. The difference between piracy and all the geopolitical conflicts like what we have in the Red Sea, the Black Sea, and now around the Strait of Hormuz is that piracy is something that ships can repel and can actually defend from. But all the type of attacks that involves drones and missiles is something that the ships and the seafarers are not trained for and they're not equipped to actually defend themselves from that. This is why every time that I can, I reiterate my message to all the countries around the world that shipping should not be used as collateral in any conflict. And we all have been experiencing the very negative impact on the economy, on food security, whenever shipping gets affected.

Thank you. Isabelle Libération, and then we'll go to Josephine from De Welt.

Hi everyone, and thanks for doing this briefing. I wanted to know, what do you know about the presence of mines in the strait? The situation still seems extremely unclear, if not kind of hypothetical.

Thank you.

Thank you. The information that I have received is that within the traffic separation scheme that exists And it was established by AMO back in 1968, is where there's a presence of mines that it could be around the numbers of 80. But I cannot give you precise information on the numbers because that is one of the actions that has been taken right now following the signing of the agreement where Iran agreed to demine the area. And of course, other countries like the UK and France and the United States are ready to provide assets to do a verification and any further demining that is required. As soon as we have that area clean is where we're planning to then, of course, resume the operations on the Strait of Hormuz using the traffic separation scheme.

Thank you.

We'll go to Diephelt and then Jack from Bloomberg.

Hello, everyone. Thank you for doing this briefing. I've recently spoken to commercial ship captains who described the psychological pressure on crews during the crisis as unlike anything they had experienced before. Is the MIU hearing similar concerns, and do you expect seafarers' well-being to remain a major issue even after the immediate crisis?

Absolutely. It is very detrimental and unacceptable, unacceptable what seafarers have been put through. If we look at since 2020, seafarers have actually been at the receiving end from the COVID pandemic, not being able to even receive assistance or to disembark the vessels, some of them for nearly 2 years. Then they got affected during the conflict in the Black Sea. Then the Houthis attacks on ships in the Red Sea. And now the situation in the Strait of Hormuz. At IMO, in relation to training and watchkeeping and certification of seafarers, one of the key areas that we're working on is to enhance the training, management, mental health and well-being of the seafarers, including in all these situations. We work very closely with the International Labour Organization that through the Maritime Labour Conventions have adopted amendments to make the seafarers— to designate the seafarers as key workers in order for them to have additional protection and recognition around the world. Our focus will remain and maintain on the seafarers, but I need further support from everyone else to highlight not only their importance, but the fact that they've been negatively affected. And the more that we actually put seafarers at risk, the more difficult that is going to be to attract the younger generation to this incredible career.

Thank you, Jack. And then we'll go to Rebecca from Wall Street Journal. Jack, go ahead.

Hi there.

Good afternoon, Secretary-General. Jack Whittle from Bloomberg News. Two quick questions for you.

What is the IMO's understanding of why the Ever Given was attacked?

And what will it take to get the IMO's plan for evacuating the seafarers and vessels going again?

And when might that happen?

Thank you. On the understanding, I'm still— it's very early days. That was happening yesterday and we're still going through information, some of the investigations of what exactly happened, the reasons and motivation for this attack and any consequences. For me, the most important part, that was no seafarer was affected or injured. During this, this incident. In relation to what it will take for us to resume, that's precisely the conversations right now in getting those guarantees, particularly for the countries in the region, that vessels will not be attacked and that we can resume the operation, particularly the evacuation of seafarers through the Strait of Hormuz.

Thank you. We'll go to Rebecca from Wall Street Journal and then CBS.

Thank you for the briefing. So in the original message sent from the Omani Navy, it said that the vessels will be grouped, will be put into groups and contacted.

So could you share any information on how these groups are determined?

And if vessels are not contacted, can they contact the IMO or Omani Navy?

Thank you.

We provided information to these kind of questions as well on our website, just, just for everyone to know that you probably could have additional information there. We've been working since the establishment, since the decision of the IMO Council, on how we will implement this corridor. And that, of course, is— was always taking into account the seafarers, how long they have been there, the need for some of them to actually be evacuated depending on the vessels before others. And we need to do this in an orderly and secure manner. So in conversations, particularly with representatives from the industry, representatives from the shipowners and the seafarers that have direct access not only to the companies but to the vessels as well, is that we're starting to organize this list of vessels. And then from there, we provide the communication, the information to the countries in the region, both Oman and Iran. Then we utilize, for example, UKMTO, which is the coordination center. And then from there, they can start asking the vessels to start moving in an orderly manner to the holding area. And then from there, they contact Oman and then they go through the transit. It's a normal process of operation that existed in the past before going through the Strait of Hormuz, which is working right now in an orderly approach. And this is what we are contacting the vessels. In those information, we've been asking the vessels not to contact us, that we will be contacting the vessels as soon as it's their turn.

Thank you. Uh, we'll go to Joanne at CBS and then Joshua from Lloyd's. Go ahead, Joanne.

Thank you, Secretary General, for doing this. Um, the IRGC have suggested that they weren't informed or they didn't agree to the southern Oman route, but the, the day you made the announcement and Oman suggests that they should— people should contact Iran and it makes it look like Iran was in fact a party to this. So can you just clarify whether or not Iran, whether it was the government of the IRGC, signed off on the southern corridor before this announcement?

I maintain conversations with the government of Iran as well as with the government of Oman. And actually, uh, one thing that I can reiterate was that on Monday this week there was a meeting, high level, between The ministers of foreign affairs from both Iran and Oman, these topics were discussed. And this is the reason why on Tuesday we actually moved forward in relation to the launch of the mechanism. Right now, at present, in again carrying out investigations of what happened yesterday is when I'm still engaging with Iran in relation to the position that was taken at foreign affairs level and then the actions that were taken by the IRGC.

Thank you. Joshua from Lloyd's and then Wang Cheng from Xinhua.

Hi, Secretary-General. Josh from Lloyd's. This here, given that Iran, Oman and the US were consulted on the plan beforehand, even if you do get the guarantees you're looking for, why should shipowners trust that the agreement will hold in the future when a vessel was attacked just days after the evacuation plan was announced?

I don't— I don't want to be subjective. I need to work on the trust and the continued exchange of information and negotiations that are being carried out. We all understand the difficulties that exist. We're not going to put the seafarers at risk. And I'm hoping that this is an isolated incident and we can then again reiterate those guarantees of the safety and the need for the flow of transit to continue in line with the MOU that was signed. So that's what I'm basing all these negotiations from, from, from our side in relation to the evacuation. And of course, maintaining engagement. And if at some point there is any concerns, I prefer to have those conversations in advance and address them as soon as possible.

Uh, Wang Chen from Xinhua, then Scott from Politico.

Hi, Secretary General. Thank you. And as you mentioned, some vessels are still choosing to transit the Strait of Hormuz despite the suspension of your operation? And what's your message to them? Would you advise against transiting until you resume your operation or just tell them to proceed with extreme caution?

Thank you.

So I hope that I understood the question because it was a little bit breaking up. It's, it's what is my message to those vessels that are still transiting Yes. Okay. It is important to recognize that Iran is still maintaining operations in the northern, in the northern part, as well as the United States continue to assist vessels as well in the southern, in the southern part of the strait. So for me, what is important for the vessels is to carry out the risk assessment before they make any final decision. And then, of course, Even with the evacuation corridor of IMO, we always recommend to the shipowners and ship operators to carry out any relevant risk assessment.

Thank you. We'll go to Scott at Politico and then John at Reuters.

Thanks for taking my question. This is largely an evacuation plan, from my understanding. How long One, how long do you think it'll estimate— what's your estimate for how long it'll take for all these trapped ships to clear the straits once this pause is lifted? And then also, is there a simultaneous plan to bring back empty ships into the strait, or is that something that's going to happen after the full evacuation has taken place?

When it comes to the timeframe, of course, we have to do this progressively. So it will take a few weeks before we can evacuate the steel. Just over 500 vessels that needs to be evacuated. The quicker that we can resume the operations, of course, the quicker that we can start increasing the numbers until we get that evacuation completed. But I'm focusing right now on step one. Any further negotiations in relation to the inbound traffic at least utilizing the southern route. It's something that needs to be further discussed with the countries in the region. Iran, for example, in their communications, they are offering two-way approach and transit in the Strait of Hormuz. But my mandate from the council of the organization is first to focus on the evacuation before any further action from my side.

Thank you. We'll go to John at Reuters and then Jonathan at BBC.

Thank you, Secretary General, for taking this. I just really wanted to follow up on a lot of the things you've mentioned already, but my key question is really the statements that have been coming out from the Revolutionary Guards in the past 24 hours are pretty strident that they don't accept any entity or party to be involved in any transits, and they are the central authority for any ships passing through. How are you going to deal with that? And will there come a point where you may have to just put on ice the entire evacuation program if there's no follow-through from that side? Thank you.

It's very difficult for me to answer the latter question because I will keep working on any means, any mechanisms that I have in order to evacuate these innocent seafarers and step by step bring back trade into the Strait of Hormuz. I know that not all the decisions are only within the organization, and that's that I follow closely how the implementation of the MOU or the further expansion of the conversations in the MOU would actually play its part. My main point of contact in Iran, of course, is the Maritime Authority and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. And this is what I'm working as well with and through them to get any further clarifications. I'm open for conversations with all the different parties in this. But I need to actually maintain the positive approach that progress is being made in the whole conflict. And at least vessels are also safely sailing through. And that's what I want to work on, keep getting those guarantees, speaking to whoever I need to speak and reaching out through other countries as well. This is not just me. Let me clarify something. This is not just me speaking to everyone. This is a combined effort. And there are several countries that are also using their diplomacy in order to actually bring into account or to bring back not only the evacuation, but the next steps that we have to take in the Strait of Hormuz.

Thank you. We'll go to Jonathan at BBC and then Nick at PBS. Jonathan Josephs, BBC. Alright, Nick, you're up. Nick at PBS and then we'll go to Stuart at Channel NewsAsia. Nick, can you hear us? I think you may be muted. No, we can't hear you. I'll come back to you. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead, Nick.

Sorry, sorry about that. Uh, thanks, Steph, and thanks, Mr. Secretary General. Um, we haven't asked you about— there's a report of another strike today. I'm just wondering if you've heard that report, whether a ship has been struck just in the last couple hours. And, and I want to put a point on many of the questions that you've been asked and just ask very directly, um, is Iran telling you right now that the southern corridor cannot be opened? And do you need Iran to tell you that, yes, you are allowed to proceed with the southern corridor before you restart this mechanism? Thanks.

In relation to your first question, I have not received any confirmation right now of any information of any incident which may have taken place today in the Strait of Hormuz. When it comes to your second question, I work on a cooperation approach here. And if I have to give you a longer answer, The Strait of Hormuz has territorial waters, or at least the jurisdiction falls on two countries, Iran and Oman. If I follow also the statement from both the Minister of Foreign Affairs from Oman and Iran on Monday, which is something that it is also in line with international law, both countries have a responsibility to manage the strait. So this is not just one country claiming or calling for specific ownership in the strait. There may be statements that are, that are issued out there. And of course, I also have to take into account that we're still in a process of moving away from a conflict and into the future steps of how we're going to manage the strait and how we're going to come back to where we were before. So that's why I'm not going to here start questioning who calls what, because I follow the international law, the rights of the states, and that's the approach that I take in any conversation.

Stuart, Channel NewsAsia, and then Karen at The Washington Post. Go ahead, Stuart.

Thank you, Secretary-General. It's quite clear from the IMF FAQs about the evacuation framework that no vessel is meant to move at all until it's communicated with a host of parties. It seems the Ever Lovely did regardless. Can we just clarify here, did they make an attempt without any sense of trying to interact with the evacuation framework at all, or had there been some attempt at communication and then something went wrong?

Sorry, let me try to understand whether some vessels have transited the Strait of Hormuz without any communication or trying to communicate with IMO and they didn't, and they didn't get any response.

Specifically on the Evergreen Ever Lovely, had it attempted to transit under the IMO evacuation framework, or had it just made a unilateral decision and this time that went wrong?

Okay, now, now I understand the question. Thank you. I can confirm that there was no, um, it was not attempt right now for that vessel, uh, to be in line to transit through the evacuation corridor. I cannot confirm right now whether they contacted, for example, the United States in order to transit, uh, the Strait of Hormuz, using the Southern Corridor. That's part of the additional information that I still need to collect in relation to what happened on this specific incident. Thank you.

Thank you. We'll go to Karen DeYoung, Washington Post, and then Gamal from Kuwaiti TV.

Thank you. Thanks, Steph. Thank you, Secretary General. Just following up on Nick's question, you had said that, I believe, that 11 vessels had transited today on the Southern Corridor and 4 on the Northern corridor. So that would indicate that there is— that the program is working today. And I just wanted you to clarify that. And secondly, you've spoken about U.S. assistance in the southern corridor. Could you tell us what that assistance consists of? What are they doing?

The United States— if I start— sorry, let me start with the first one. Again, I need takes at least normally 24 hours to verify the information of all the transits of the vessels. Uh, but the initial information that I have from this morning is that 4 vessels transited using the north part of the Strait of Hormuz and around 11 vessels the southern part. Um, in the information that we provided on our website as well, we made it clear that both Oman and the United States have provided information of transits through the southern part of the Strait of Hormuz, and this is where some vessels may using a different contact, different approach to go through. One of the main reasons for the corridor, the evacuation corridor for Aimo, is again working and enhancing the cooperation to make sure that there is a safe transit, that we don't have collisions and any additional incidents in the region.

Thank you. We'll go to Gamal, Kuwait TV.

Thank you for having the question.

I have the question for Secretary General.

This is very volatile situation. Any hostile activity affect the market. How we can restore the confidence of the market? Also, do you have any timetable to resume the evacuation plan about the Coalition of the Willing? Do you have any timetable when they start— when they will start to do mining?

This is it.

Thanks.

The situation in the city of Bakhmut, as we all know, is very fluid. So I cannot give you a timetable. I wish that I will be in a position to actually do that and be quite specific, but it is not possible right now. I'm taking every step, every action step by step, always following not only the role and instructions that have been given, particularly by the membership of the organizations, but where it is also the remit of, of IMO. And of course, what I'm looking for is to continue to build that sense of security, trust, and cooperation in the region and beyond the region for us to, at the appropriate time, whenever that is, to resume operations in the Strait of Hormuz the way that they were taking place before the conflict started.

All right. Thank you. And last question is from All About Shipping, and then we have to close it out and release the Secretary-General.

Thank you.

Robin Russell.

Hi, Robin Russell. Robin Russell, All About Shipping. Thank you very much for the briefing. Thank you very much for your efforts in handling all of this. So I was interested in your mention of continuing support from the US and Oman over the course of the last 24 hours. And it had been less clear to me that there was that going on in parallel to the IMO's evacuation plan since that started earlier this week. How would you describe the support that's given in that way. It seems to me as if multilateral guarantees from all the parties involved is the safest option. But how should we understand the support that the US and Oman are giving ships that are, that are not covered under the evacuation plan?

If I understand correctly, and apologies for this, When we launched the evacuation plan, we made it very clear that this was following the decision of the IMO Council in order to focus on all those 11,000 innocent seafarers that have been trapped there. The same time, the Islamic Republic of Iran announced the— the routes that could be utilized. And the United States also have been working with Oman and they announced about the corridor or the routes that can be used in the southern part, which is very much in line with the routes of the, of the corridor. What I'm working on again is on the multilateralism to maintain the flow in a safe manner, to bring as much commonality as possible in order to provide that information to the industry and to the seafarers and shipowners— sorry, the vessels in the region— in order to then for them to select. It's not for the IMO. To decide what is the final decision of the vessels, if it's the North Corridor or the South Corridor. We just provide the information that exists, the one that is developed by us together with the Sultanate of Oman in cooperation with the United States, and the one that has been developed and put forward by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Just if I may, though, the defining feature of that— sorry. The defining feature of that evacuation corridor is the multilateral guarantees from all the parties involved. If that has fallen away or if you're pausing it at the moment, what is left for support from Oman and the US? Are they providing military cover? Are they providing warships to go before and after or something? What, what does that support look like?

Multilateralism is the reason why IMO and the UN exist and the reason why we continue to make progress. It may not be the big steps that some are expecting from us, but for me, any progress that leads us into the right direction is something that we should continue to build on and work on. And that's the kind of conversations that I'm having right now. And when it comes to how soon we can actually then resume this corridor. Of course, it's part of all these negotiations, but it is important to reiterate that there are steps that have been taken forward and it's building on those blocks that would allow us to then resume the operation of the evacuation plan and at some point as well, just start enhancing the trade through the Strait of Hormuz.

So just, just to press the point, the conversations are not broken.

Conversations are taking place. I cannot give you an input.

Sorry, Robert, Robert, Robert, just let the Secretary-General finish his sentence and then you'll have one last follow-up.

I do, I do apologize. I do maintain the engagements with all the parties in the region. I need to maintain the dialogue in order to address any concerns, any measures that we probably put in place that enhance not only the security and safety, but that will lead us into additional steps that we may need to take in the future in order to increase the transit of the vessels in the region. But the multilateral cooperation is there and is the reason why we were able to launch the evacuation framework. The decision of pausing it was because I always said that I will not risk any seafarers, and I still need to find out more information from the investigation as soon as possible of what happened yesterday. In order to resume.

Great.

Secretary-General Dominguez, thank you very much. I know we've, we've taken 45 minutes of your time. We had more questions than we can handle, but I think this format works and we hope to welcome you back as soon as we can. Thank you so much.

Thank you. And thank you as well for the media for their interest. And please keep helping me in highlighting the importance and the safety of the seafarers.