The UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) says roughly 1,500 ships and about 20,000 crew members are trapped in the Gulf amid an Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. IMO secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez said the situation is the result of the broader Middle East conflict that escalated on February 28, when Israel and the United States launched actions against Iran. According to Dominguez, Tehran’s subsequent reprisals across the region include a shipping blockade affecting the key global trade route. Several outlets report his remarks in Panama to the Maritime Convention of the Americas, where he also described the trapped seafarers as workers carrying out their jobs but caught in geopolitical circumstances outside their control. Dominguez noted the economic significance of the route, saying maritime shipping moves more than 80% of total consumed products globally, and that prior to the conflict a fifth of the world’s petroleum and gas transited the Strait of Hormuz. The reports focus on the number of ships and crews affected and on the stated linkage between the blockade and disruptions to international shipping.