IMO Verified 133 Attacks on Merchant Ships in Hormuz Crisis

The International Maritime Organization has verified 133 attacks on merchant vessels in and around the Strait of Hormuz since the conflict began on February 28, with at least 25 seafarers killed and others still missing or injured. Against that backdrop, IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez is now pressing governments to enforce SOLAS and other international safety conventions in the waterway — and to go after the substandard tonnage he says is making a bad situation worse.

The verified incident count, confirmed as of November 10, is the hardest number the organization has put on the crisis to date. It frames a statement Dominguez issued Wednesday that goes beyond the familiar appeal for de-escalation and targets a specific regulatory failure: ships transiting Hormuz without complying with basic International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea requirements.

What is Dominguez actually asking for?

The IMO chief cited a pattern of unsafe practices in the Strait:

• substandard vessels operating in the waterway;
• ships concealing their IMO identification numbers;
• vessels sailing under fraudulent registrations or false flags;
• other breaches of basic international safety requirements.

He called on flag states, port states and coastal states to act against violations within their own jurisdictions and in accordance with international law. That is a pointed formulation: false-flag operations and hidden IMO numbers are, in practice, enforcement gaps that no single regulator can close, and Dominguez's statement implicitly concedes the IMO itself has no enforcement power beyond naming the problem.

"IMO's technical and operational regulations are there to protect seafarers, ships and the marine environment. They must be respected and enforced effectively," Dominguez said.

What does this mean for commercial operators?

The directive to business is unusually blunt. "I strongly urge shipowners and operators to refrain from commercial activities in the Strait that expose seafarers to unacceptable risks," Dominguez said — language that puts the commercial decision squarely on owners rather than solely on governments or insurers.

For tankers and other operators still transiting Hormuz, the message cuts two ways. The security risk from hostilities is already priced into voyages through the Persian Gulf; what Dominguez adds is a regulatory dimension, warning that non-compliant tonnage in the same waters raises the danger for everyone, including compliant crews. Charterers and P&I clubs will read the reference to fraudulent registrations and concealed identification numbers as a due-diligence flag: counterparty vetting in the region now has an explicit IMO statement behind it.

Notably, the statement does not name any specific vessel, flag registry or operator — and it does not say how many of the 133 incidents involve the substandard practices Dominguez describes. The omission leaves open how large that segment of traffic actually is.

Where does the IMO Council stand?

The appeal follows the IMO Council's November 2–6 session in London, where member states called for stronger protections for seafarers and reiterated that vital shipping lanes must remain open, safe and secure. The Council condemned attacks on merchant shipping and called on governments to refrain from unlawful measures endangering seafarers and international navigation.

Dominguez also renewed his call for a political solution, urging governments to restore a safe, internationally recognized framework for navigation through the Strait that preserves established rights and freedoms of navigation.

He framed the stakes in deliberately non-maritime terms, warning that the conflict's consequences reach beyond the industry and are contributing to higher living costs for millions of people worldwide. "It is imperative for Governments to tackle the root causes of this conflict," he said.

The pressure now shifts to member states. The IMO has verified the incidents, condemned the attacks and identified the enforcement gaps — but every remedy it proposes depends on flag, port and coastal governments acting in their own jurisdictions. Until one of them does, the incident count and the casualty toll remain the only metrics by which the Hormuz crisis is being measured, and both are still rising.