At least 44 Iranian seafarers have been killed and 29 injured since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to Saman Rezaei, head of Iran’s merchant marine union. The fatalities include 22 civilian sailors, 16 fishermen and six dock workers killed between February 28 and April 1.

Rezaei told Al Jazeera the data was collected by Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization and union members. The deaths do not include Iranian navy personnel killed by US and Israeli forces. Rezaei submitted complaints to the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO), attributing the deaths to “attacks by US and Israeli armies on Iranian ports and commercial fleets.”

The union, affiliated with the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), has provided humanitarian, medical and repatriation assistance to stranded seafarers. Rezaei highlighted “severe psychological distress” among seafarers trapped for 60 days in a war zone from the Gulf to the Indian Ocean.

US and Israeli forces have carried out over 3,000 air strikes on Iran since February 28, while Iran launched nearly 1,600 retaliatory strikes. A ceasefire has been in effect since April 8, but the US imposed a naval blockade of all Iranian ports on April 13 to cut off oil exports.

The Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global energy exports normally flow, has been de facto closed since the war began, stranding 20,000 seafarers. Despite the ceasefire, Iranian forces continue to fire on ships trying to exit the strait and seized two cargo ships on April 22.

US forces seized the Iranian-flagged MV Touska on April 19, detaining 23 crew members, two cadets, two women and one child. Six were later released. The vessel is reportedly under US sanctions.

Stephen Cotton, ITF general secretary, stressed that seafarers on both sides are civilians: “They may be under an Iranian flag, but not everybody agrees with the sanctions.”

Source: www.aljazeera.com