Amid Shaky Ceasefire, War in Iran Is Starving Sudan

(Rachel George – Just Security) The anticipated reopening of the Strait of Hormuz under an April 7 deal for a two-week suspension of U.S. air strikes against Iran is already marred by confusion and uncertainty. Experts warn that Iran’s continued control over the Strait will still require coordinated international efforts to restore confidence. The stakes extend well beyond energy markets — to humanitarian crises such as Sudan, where already catastrophic conditions are worsening. Since the United States and Israeli forces launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28 and Iran began retaliating with attacks across the region, the world’s attention has been fixed largely on oil markets, regional escalation, and geopolitical realignment. Those are vital concerns, to be sure. But a quieter catastrophe has been unfolding in the interim, one measured not in barrels of crude oil, but in metric tons of food stuck in shipping containers in Dubai, and in pharmaceutical shipments rerouted around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, and in the slow strangulation of a weakened global humanitarian system at the exact moment when aid is needed most in conflict and disaster zones around the globe. The Strait of Hormuz accounts for more than 20 percent of the global maritime oil trade, but it also is a critical thoroughfare for humanitarian logistics and supplies. That includes fertilizers, food aid, and medical supplies required for life-saving care and fundamental food security, supplies that fell sharply in early March with the waterway’s effective closure. So decision-making surrounding military action in the Middle East, including recent efforts to draw down conflict, cannot afford to consider questions of legality and “lethality” without simultaneous and serious attention to the knock-on effects, given the implications of humanitarian catastrophe and hunger for broader security outcomes. – Amid Shaky Ceasefire, War in Iran Is Starving Sudan