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Iran Attacks IMO Over its Seafarer Safety Advocacy

IMO
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By The Maritime Executive 2026-11-05 14:28:35

Iran has criticized the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), with its Permanent Representative to London complaining that the organization ignores the plight of Iranian seafarers stranded off Sri Lanka and overlooks the US naval blockade of Iranian seaports and shipping.

In his recent interview with the Maritime Executive, the IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez stressed that the IMO does not have a remit to wade into the geopolitical sphere in any attempt to defuse issues which are impacting either shipping or seafarers; within the United Nations governance structure, that remit lies with the UN General Secretary and the Security Council, wherein a balance always needs to be struck between the incomplete structure of international law and the national interests of the permanent members of the Security Council. If IMO were to start trying to solve geopolitical issues beyond its remit, it could compromise the organization’s ability to achieve consensus in solving the technical and regulatory matters impacting the wider shipping community - its core mission.

In this context, and with regard to Iranian complaints, the IMO Secretary-General has elected to focus on one issue where his voice can have real impact: the welfare of seafarers caught up in the conflict. Shipowners and managers are part of the IMO community too, but already have influence within the IMO through the Permanent Representatives of the countries whose flags their ships fly. The IMO Secretary-General’s concern for the safety of seafarers in the Strait of Hormuz, under deadly attack by Iran, therefore speaks for a group whose plight is underrepresented. Some seafarers may be willing to accept the risk of undertaking a dangerous passage, in return for bonus payments, but all crewmembers employed on the route are still exposed to hazards that civilians should not have to endure.

The IMO’s representation of their position keeps an important factor in play within the negotiations at geopolitical level. It also serves to remind the global community that the IRGC’s tactics in the Strait endanger a seafaring community that never signed up to serve for political purposes, or to do anything other than to earn an honest living.