UN says weeks remain to save the planting season as Hormuz fertiliser route stays shut

Speaking in Bangkok on 14 October 2026, Jorge Moreira da Silva, the UN Under-Secretary-General, warned that a failure by the United States and Iran to agree within weeks on a UN-backed plan for fertiliser shipments through the Strait of Hormuz could cause a food security crisis in parts of Asia and Africa.

The warning reflects the strategic importance of a waterway that, before the conflict, carried roughly a third of globally traded urea and nearly half of seaborne sulphur. Urea is the world’s most widely used nitrogen fertiliser.

Traffic through the strait has been severely disrupted since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran. Iran has sought to tighten its grip on the route since US and Israeli strikes on 28 February.

Fertiliser shipments from the Gulf region have remained largely halted more than six months after the conflict began, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute. During a ceasefire between mid-June and mid-July, fertiliser products accounted for a “very negligible” share of the limited return of shipping.

The United Nations set up a taskforce in March to help fertilisers pass through the strait.

Under the proposed operation, a coordination centre in Oman would register vessels and arrange safe passage. UN monitors would work with local authorities at Gulf ports to verify cargo loading, while vessels would be tracked during transit. Countries could carry out further inspections of a vessel or its cargo if necessary.

Moreira da Silva said the system could begin operating within 7-10 days of an agreement between Washington and Tehran.

“It's absolutely crucial to get the deal in the next few weeks. Otherwise, we will miss the planting season,” he said.

He said that passage for only five vessels a day through Hormuz could maintain fertiliser supplies to countries in critical need.

“If we miss that planting season, the productivity of agriculture would significantly drop and the impact on prices will significantly increase,” Moreira da Silva said.

An August report by the International Chamber of Commerce projected that continued disruption in Hormuz could lift commodity prices by up to 81% for cereals, 66% for oil crops and 30% for animal products.

A US State Department spokesman said: “The United States will continue to take decisive action against Iran's attempts to disrupt freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and hold the global economy hostage”.