(Photo credit: TIMES)
OCT 14, 2026
The Cradle
A UN official says the planting season will be lost unless Washington and Tehran strike a deal within weeks
“It’s absolutely crucial to get the deal in the next few weeks. Otherwise, we will miss the planting season,” UN Under-Secretary-General Jorge Moreira da Silva told the agency in Bangkok, on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.
The UN formed a task force in March to secure passage for fertilizer through the strait, but its mechanism has never been put into operation.
Under the plan, a coordination center in Oman would register ships and arrange their transit, while UN monitors would work with local authorities at Gulf ports to verify what is loaded on board.
Da Silva said allowing just five vessels through Hormuz each day could sustain fertilizer deliveries to the countries that need them most.
“We need seven days to put the monitors on the ground and to ensure the transit of fertilizers … We are ready, but we are still dependent on the political will of the parties,” he told the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs in Brussels.
The proposal has broad support among UN member states but still lacks a mandate from Washington and Tehran, he said.
According to UN analysis he cited, daily traffic through the strait has collapsed from around 130 ships before the war to just five last week. He added that fertilizer prices have jumped 25 to 30 percent since late February.
Moreira da Silva said the World Food Programme (WFP) estimates the disruptions could leave some 45 million people facing acute food shortages.
He said Sudan, Somalia, Mozambique, and Tanzania rely on the Gulf for 50 to 60 percent of their fertilizer.
