IMO Sounds Alarm as Attacks on Merchant Ships Spread Across Global Trade Routes

The head of the International Maritime Organization is calling on governments to stop attacks on merchant shipping as conflicts increasingly spill into some of the world’s most important trade routes.

IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez issued the warning Wednesday as the organization reported 80 verified attacks on international shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz since the Middle East conflict began on February 28, killing at least 22 seafarers and injuring many others.

“We are reaching a point where these conflicts are being used as a pretext to attack merchant vessels and innocent seafarers,” Dominguez told delegates at the IMO’s Sub-Committee on