Some 1,500 ships trapped in Gulf due to Iran conflict

PANAMA CITY, May 8: Around 1,500 ships and their crews are trapped in the Gulf due to the Iranian blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, the UN's International Maritime Organization (IMO) chief said in Panama Thursday.

The war in the Middle East, unleashed February 28 by Israel and the United States against Iran, provoked reprisals from Tehran across the region and a shipping blockade in Hormuz, a crucial global trade route.

"Right now, we have approximately 20,000 crewmen and around 1,500 ships trapped," IMO secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez told the Maritime Convention of the Americas.

Dominguez said that maritime shipping moves over 80 percent of total consumed products in the world.    �"AFP