DAMMAM: Tehran's publication of a restrictive new maritime map has severely escalated a punishing Middle Eastern shipping crisis. This aggressive geopolitical maneuvering highlights how Iran's intensified closure of the Strait of Hormuz is piling s
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DAMMAM: Tehran’s publication of a restrictive new maritime map has severely escalated a punishing Middle Eastern shipping crisis. This aggressive geopolitical maneuvering highlights how Iran's intensified closure of the Strait of Hormuz is piling severe misery on stranded sailors, trapping roughly 2,000 commercial vessels across the volatile choke point.
More than 20,000 civilian mariners have endured isolated, high-risk conditions for nearly three months following blockades triggered in late February.
Confined to tiny quarters and scorching, sun-baked decks, crews face a critical depletion of basic necessities. Maritime federations report that severe supply shortages have forced desperate crews to survive on a single daily meal of rice or lentils.
The psychological toll on these abandoned workers has reached a dangerous breaking point. Mariners live in constant terror, navigating the nightly anxiety of drone and missile strikes flying overhead.
Compounding the trauma, risk-averse shipowners are delaying wages and refusing repatriation, leaving civilian sailors entirely forsaken at sea.
