Iran war chokes aid corridors, obstructing global relief efforts

GENEVA – Key humanitarian air, sea and land routes are being constricted by disruption from the war in the Middle East, delaying life-saving shipments to some of the world’s worst crises, 10 aid officials have told Reuters.

The

US–Israeli war on Iran

entered its seventh day on March 6, convulsing global markets and disrupting supply chains with airspace closures and the halt of shipping through the critical Strait of Hormuz.

Aid to Gaza and Sudan is grinding to a halt and costs are soaring for help to the hundreds of millions suffering hunger crises worldwide.

“People in dire need of assistance will have to wait longer for food,” said Mr Jean-Martin Bauer, director of food security at the World Food Programme.

Already, tents, tarpaulin and lamps destined for the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank have become stuck in the supply chain, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.

Aid groups say higher operational costs are straining budgets already facing massive donor cuts.

The IOM said shipping firms were demanding emergency surcharges of about US$3,000 (S$3,840) a container.

Humanitarian groups stocking goods for rapid regional deployment at warehouses in Dubai’s Humanitarian Hub face challenges in moving supplies onto transit routes. The International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) and Red Crescent Societies cannot move trauma kits to help the Iranian Red Crescent with search-and-rescue from its Dubai hub, where they sit on a 10 million Swiss franc (S$16.5 million) emergency stockpile, said Ms Cecile Terraz, an IFRC director.

The group cannot move stock through Jebel Ali port – the region’s largest container terminal, which was set on fire by the debris of an intercepted missile – from where cargo normally moves onto planes or through the Strait of Hormuz.

The World Health Organization’s Dubai hub operations are also frozen, regional director Hanan Balkhy said, obstructing 50 emergency requests from 25 countries and hampering operations such as polio vaccination.

Ripple effects farther afield are also likely. Famine-struck Sudan is particularly exposed because of added restrictions since Feb 28 on the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, the UN Refugee Agency said.

“We are particularly concerned about Africa,” said a spokeswoman, adding that some cargoes were being sent around the Cape of Good Hope. The route takes up to three weeks longer. Costs for fuel, transportation and insurance are also rising, and Ms Terraz said the IFRC may have to cut deliveries to the Iranian Red Crescent.

Ms Emma Maspero, senior manager in Copenhagen of the supply division of the UN children’s body UNICEF, said she hoped flights carrying perishable humanitarian goods such as vaccines could be prioritised amid the airspace restrictions. REUTERS