Secretary of State Rubio confirms at least ten civilian crew members have perished aboard stranded vessels as Iran separately accuses US forces of killing five civilians in Monday’s naval clashes
At least ten civilian sailors have died aboard vessels stranded in the Persian Gulf, the United States confirmed on Tuesday, as Iran’s months-long blockade of the Strait of Hormuz escalated from a geopolitical crisis into a humanitarian catastrophe. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking at a White House press briefing, disclosed the death toll as he sought to justify the launch of “Project Freedom” Washington’s audacious military-escorted convoy operation that ignited fresh hostilities in the strait on Monday.
Rubio painted a desperate picture of conditions facing the roughly 23,000 civilians from 87 nations trapped aboard approximately 2,000 vessels. Many have been stranded at sea since Iran declared the strait closed on 4 March in retaliation for the joint US-Israeli airstrikes that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on 28 February. “These innocent sailors and commercial crew members have been stranded out at sea,” Rubio told reporters, warning that those aboard were “running out of food and water.”
“These innocent sailors have been stranded for weeks — running out of food and water. At least ten have already died.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House briefing, 5 May 2026
The nature of the ten deaths has not been officially specified, though the prolonged blockade has left crews dependent on dwindling onboard provisions, exposed to intense Gulf heat, and beyond reach of routine medical care. Shipping industry sources have previously warned of crew members with serious medical conditions unable to be evacuated. Rubio stressed that Project Freedom was conceived as a rescue operation as much as a strategic one, aimed at extracting stranded commercial ships under the protection of US Navy guided-missile destroyers.
The humanitarian toll emerged on the same day Iran lodged a separate and disputed claim of civilian deaths caused by US military action. Tehran accused American forces of attacking two passenger vessels during Monday’s clashes, killing five civilians directly contradicting Washington’s account that US helicopters had only destroyed six IRGC fast-attack boats that had moved to intercept the convoy. US Central Command flatly denied the Iranian allegation and maintained that no civilians were targeted. The IRGC, for its part, denied its vessels had been sunk at all.
Despite the violence and the mounting death toll, both sides offered muted signals that diplomacy had not entirely collapsed. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said peace talks with the United States were “making progress,” even as he condemned the US military operation as reckless adventurism. Two US-flagged merchant ships including the Alliance Fairfax, confirmed by global shipper Maersk successfully exited the Gulf through the strait on Monday under naval escort, the first such transit since the blockade began.
The UAE also came under sustained attack for a second consecutive day, with authorities confirming its air defences intercepted 15 Iranian missiles and four drones, and a fire broke out at an oil facility in Fujairah. Whether the fragile 8 April ceasefire between Washington and Tehran remains in effect is now openly in doubt a question US Central Command commander Admiral Brad Cooper conspicuously declined to answer.
