PERSIAN GULF — Saman Rezaei, general secretary of the Iranian Merchant Mariners Syndicate, submitted letters of complaint to the International Maritime Organization in March and April reporting that at least 44 Iranian seafarers have been killed and 29 injured since the start of the United States-Israel war on Iran. He attributed the deaths to attacks by U.S. and Israeli armies on Iranian ports and commercial fleets across Iran's territorial waters and the Gulf.

According to Rezaei, those killed included 22 civilian sailors, 16 fishermen and six dock workers, and the figures do not include members of Iran's navy killed by U.S. and Israeli forces. He said at least nine Iranian seafarers are missing.

"The humanitarian crisis is affecting all seafarers in the Persian Gulf, including the crews of Iranian-flagged ships. However, they face a unique and terrifying set of pressures." Rezaei described seafarers as concerned about supplies running low and facing severe psychological distress after spending 60 days trapped in a war zone spanning the Gulf to the Indian Ocean.

U.S. and Israeli forces have carried out more than 3,000 air strikes across Iran since February 28, while Iran has carried out nearly 1,600 retaliatory strikes across the Middle East over the same period, according to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data. A U.S.-Iran ceasefire has been in force since April 8.

The U.S. launched a naval blockade of all Iranian ports on April 13 to cut off Iran's oil exports and pressure Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which one fifth of the world's energy and gas exports normally flow. The strait has been de facto closed since the start of the war, stranding 20,000 seafarers in and around the waterway for at least two months. Iranian forces have continued to fire on ships trying to exit the strait despite the ceasefire, and Iran's attacks on vessels in the Gulf or attempting to cross the strait have killed at least 10 seafarers since the start of the war, according to the International Maritime Organization.

On April 19, U.S. forces seized the Iranian-flagged MV Touska in the Gulf of Oman and detained its crew. U.S. Central Command accused the vessel of violating the naval blockade. Rezaei said the detainees included 23 crew members, two cadets, two women and one child, and that six crew members, including the two women and the child, were released by U.S. forces and returned to Iran after the seizure.

"The point is, these are seafarers. You can say they are under an Iranian flag, and there are sanctions, but not everybody agrees with the sanctions." said Stephen Cotton, general secretary of the International Transport Workers' Federation.