UN agency pauses evacuation of ships through the Strait of Hormuz after attack on vessel

A man stands beside a fishing pole along the shore as cargo ships and commercial vessels are seen in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. Amirhosein Khorgooi/AP Photo/Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA hide caption toggle caption Amirhosein Khorgooi/AP Photo/Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A United Nations agency paused the evacuation of ships through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday after the British military said a vessel was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman following the passage of several tankers that used a route backed by the U.N. The head of the International Maritime Organization said the plan to move stranded ships out of the Persian Gulf through the strait will be on hold until the agency can confirm safety guarantees for the ships on the evacuation list and in the region. The report of a strike came hours after Iran threatened vessels to stop using the route through the strait without Tehran's permission. The vessel that was attacked was not part of the evacuation effort, said Arsenio Dominguez, the U.N. agency's secretary-general. A U.S. official told The Associated Press that the vessel was hit by an Iranian drone. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation, said the merchant vessel Ever Lovely was attacked by a drone being flown by the Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. …