LONDON, August 28. /TASS/. At least 70 attacks on international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz have been verified by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) of the United Nations since February 28, with 19 seafarers killed, the organization’s Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement marking six months since the beginning of the US-Israeli military operation against Iran.

"Six months since the conflict in the Middle East began, the situation in the Strait of Hormuz is unresolved. Thousands of seafarers in the region continue to live and work under conditions of heightened risk and uncertainty," Dominguez stated.

"While some ships and their crews have been able to leave the Persian Gulf, up to 400 ships carrying around 6,000 seafarers have been unable to depart safely since the conflict began," he added.

In this respect, the organization’s chief called on the international community and the shipping industry "to work together with IMO and the wider United Nations system, to advance practical solutions to restore the freedom of navigation through the Strait."

The United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28. In June, Washington and Tehran signed the memorandum of understanding calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts, including in Lebanon. However, the United States resumed large-scale strikes on Iran overnight on July 8, accusing Tehran of violating the terms of the agreement concerning the Strait of Hormuz, through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil exports pass.