IMO TO EVACUATE 11,000 SAILORS STRANDED IN GULF

The UN's International Maritime Organisation announced plans to evacuate more than 11,000 sailors stranded in the Gulf following a conflict between the United States and Iran. IMO secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez described the operation as "large-scale" and said it would proceed with cooperation from Iran, Oman, the US, other regional coastal states and the maritime industry. Dominguez stated that safety guarantees had been secured and conditions for safe navigation had been verified to support the evacuation.

An interim deal to end the conflict was signed last week, though the US and Iran remain in disagreement over specific details of the Memorandum of Understanding. The US has stated that the agreement includes provisions for the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect Iran's nuclear weapons programme. US President Donald Trump posted on social media that Iran had agreed to "highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future". Iran responded by saying the UN watchdog would not be permitted to inspect nuclear sites that were bombed by the US and Israel in the previous year. A US official responded that Iran had agreed to "robust IAEA inspections of the remains of their nuclear weapons programme".

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio began a tour of Gulf states on Tuesday, visiting the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain to discuss the agreement. Rubio stated that no country is permitted to impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz, describing it as an international waterway governed by existing international law. The statement followed Iranian efforts to charge ships transiting the waterway during the conflict period.