UN News Today 09 July 2026 — UN News

Renewed hostilities between the United States and Iran reportedly brought shipping to a near-standstill in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, leaving around 6,000 seafarers stranded aboard hundreds of vessels and Gulf countries on high alert for further attacks. Echoing UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s alarm at the resumption of strikes and counterstrikes between the US and Iran, International Maritime Organization (IMO) Member States on Thursday condemned Iran’s “continued threats” and alleged attacks. In a call to protect “vital shipping lanes”, Bahrain, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia and others underscored the impact on sea transport “particularly in and around the Strait of Hormuz”, a key global energy lifeline. In a separate submission, Iran alleged “armed interference with Iranian commercial vessels” and “aggression carried out by the United States” and Israel. The agency’s Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez insisted that all transit through the Strait should be avoided until it was safe to do so and noted that the evacuation of stranded seafarers would remain on hold. According to IMO data, 136 ships have been evacuated along with 2,900 seafarers to date. To Afghanistan, where UN agencies warn that an “unprecedented” influx of refugees has put host communities already suffering acute poverty under immense pressure. Six million Afghans have returned to the country in just the last three years, said the UN Development Programme, UNDP,…