UN official warns: food crisis threatens Asia and Africa if fertilizer corridor through Hormuz stalls

UN Deputy Secretary-General Jorge Moreira da Silva warned that parts of Asia and Africa could face a food security crisis if Iran and the United States do not quickly reach an agreement on a UN plan to secure the passage of fertilizers through the Strait of Hormuz.

Moreira da Silva said, on the sidelines of International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Bangkok, that reaching the agreement is "critically important" within weeks as the planting season approaches. The plan centers on establishing a coordination center run by the United Nations in Oman to register ships and oversee their safe passage through the strait.

The UN official clarified that any failure to meet the planting season deadline will lead to a tangible decline in agricultural productivity and a sharp rise in prices. He pointed out that navigation in the Strait of Hormuz has been severely disrupted since the escalation of regional tensions, amid Iran's targeting of ships in the strait and the exchange of fire between the two sides in the surrounding area.