Iran-Gulf war chokes aid corridors, slowing global relief efforts

Record ID: 2361968

  • Title: Iran-Gulf war chokes aid corridors, slowing global relief efforts
  • Date: 6th March 2026
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (MARCH 5, 2026) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF FOOD SECURITY AT WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME (WFP), JEAN-MARTIN BAUER, SAYING: “What this situation could do is definitely increase the risk of hunger worldwide. This is what we saw when global markets were disrupted in 2022, when global markets were disrupted in 2007 and 2008. This is what happened when glob
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Dubai IFRC Iran Israel UAE UNHCR US United Nations WFP hub humanitarian aid war
  • Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
  • City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
  • Country: Iran
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Middle East,Military Conflicts
  • Reuters ID: LVA002136105032026RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Key humanitarian air, sea and land routes are being constricted by supply‑chain disruption from the Iran-Gulf war, delaying life‑saving shipments to some of the world's worst crises, nine aid officials told Reuters.
    The U.S.–Israeli campaign against Iran entered its seventh day on Friday (March 6), convulsing global markets and breaking down supply chains amid the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and parts of regional airspace.
    The disruptions are delaying aid, in some places nearly halting it, and pushing up costs just as hundreds of millions worldwide face crisis‑level hunger or worse.
    "What this situation could do is definitely increase the risk of hunger worldwide," Jean-Martin Bauer, Director of Food Security at the World Food Programme, told Reuters. "And what will happen is that people in dire need of assistance will have to wait longer for food."
    Aid groups say a significant increase in operational costs are eating into budgets already strained by massive donor cuts. Major global liners have announced emergency surcharges of approximately $3,000 per container, the IOM (International Organization for Migration) told Reuters.
    The IOM, UNHCR, IFRC, the WFP, the World Health Organization and the U.N. children's agency, which use warehouses in Dubai's 150,000 square meter Humanitarian Hub to stock goods for rapid deployment across the region, are facing challenges moving supplies onto transit routes.
    In a region that is around 90% dependent on food imports, price surges and scarcity of some goods is expected, they say.
    “If we don't deliver goods from humanitarian cargo, the impact could be lives not saved. So we are really worried about the situation," said Cecile Terraz, the Director of Global Humanitarian Services and Supply Chains for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent society.
    The IFRC needs to move trauma kits and defibrillators to the Iranian Red Crescent Society from the Dubai hub to support rescue operations in Iran but they are part of an estimated 10 million Swiss francs ($12.82 million) emergency stockpile that is stuck there, the IFRC said.
    It said it cannot move stock through Jebel Ali port - the region's largest container terminal, which partly caught fire last week from intercepted missile debris - and which normally routes via the Strait of Hormuz, or load cargo onto planes.
    It is considering alternative shipping routes, however they face heavy congestion, and lengthened customs processing times, the IFRC said.
    "Some of our operations are close to running on fumes in situations with very high need. These disruptions are affecting a system that's already been quite challenged," said the WFP's Bauer.
    IFRC's Terraz said it may have to deliver less aid into Iran because of the price increases.
    Ripple effects beyond the region are likely, with the humanitarian situation in Sudan, where famine levels have been reached in some parts, at risk of being exacerbated, UNHCR spokesperson Charlotte Wolf said.
    The country is seen as particularly exposed due to difficulties shipping aid to Port Sudan via maritime routes like the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait which some shipping lines are avoiding due to risks of Houthi attacks.
    (Production: Cecile Mantovani, Olivia Le Poidevin, Emma Farge)
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