UN refugee agency says Iran war harming global humanitarian work

The Iran war is increasingly putting humanitarian aid operations in other regions under pressure, a UN spokeswoman said on Friday.

The insecure situation around the Strait of Hormuz has increased fuel and freight costs and is causing transport delays, Carlotta Wolf from the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said.

“Every additional dollar in transport costs means that we have one dollar less for refugees or that we can help fewer people,” Wolf said.

Because of the war, freight rates for relief supplies from the main Asian countries of origin have risen by almost 18%, according to the spokeswoman. Deliveries from the UNHCR supply warehouse in Dubai to Sudan, which is embroiled in a years-long civil war, are now twice as expensive, she said.

In addition, higher fuel prices in Kenya were slowing lorry transport between the UNHCR hub in Nairobi and people in need in Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan, Wolf said.