New York, April 14, 2026 — The International Rescue Committee (IRC) today called on the international community to take immediate action to establish a sustained humanitarian corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, ensuring the uninterrupted delivery of life-saving aid to vulnerable populations affected by escalating regional instability.
The IRC warns that ongoing tensions and disruptions in maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz—one of the world’s most critical shipping routes—are severely impacting the flow of essential supplies, including food, fuel, fertilizer and medical aid, to millions of civilians across the region.
As the IRC has previously warned, the war in Iran has unleashed a triple emergency: a surge in humanitarian need, a global economic shock, and a system already stretched to breaking point by more than 60 simultaneous conflicts. The constraint of fuel, fertilizer, liquified natural gas and cooking gas, as well as the shipping lanes that carry medicines and therapeutic foods into crisis zones is a rapidly unfolding food security timebomb.
The IRC still has $130,000 worth of pharmaceutical supplies destined for Sudan stuck in Dubai. In Nigeria, fuel prices have surged by nearly 50%, sharply increasing the cost of running clinics and mobile health teams; in Ethiopia, rising transport and fuel costs are pushing up food prices and constraining aid delivery in already food-insecure areas; and in Yemen, disruptions to shipping routes are delaying critical imports—on which the country relies for around 90% of its food—threatening the continuity of life-saving assistance.
David Miliband, President and CEO of the IRC, said: “When vital shipping routes like the Strait of Hormuz are disrupted, the impact is not abstract—it is measured in empty shelves, shuttered clinics, and lives at risk. Humanitarian aid should not be subject to the volatility of conflict.
The establishment of a sustained humanitarian corridor is a straightforward and necessary step to ensure that life-saving supplies continue to flow. The international community must act with urgency and resolve to keep this lifeline open and protect civilians from the cascading effects of regional instability.”
The IRC calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities; for all parties to safeguard humanitarian access across affected airspace and maritime routes; and for governments to provide flexible and predictable funding to ensure aid organizations can respond to rising costs without cutting life-saving programs.