Arsenio Dominguez watched the reports from London as the maritime order buckled. The container ship Epaminondas was boarded by commandos near the Strait of Hormuz. It is now anchored in the Gulf of Oman. Another vessel, the MSC Francesca, met the same fate. These are not just ships. they are the lifelines of global trade. They carry the goods that stock our shelves. They are manned by sailors who now face an uncertain fate.

Iran is using swarms of small, fast boats to seize these giants. They are retaliating for the American seizure of the Touska. This is tit-for-tat warfare on the high seas. It leaves 20,000 seafarers trapped in a dangerous cage. Indian sailors have reported warning shots fired at their tankers. None were injured, but the fear is real. The Persian Gulf has become a place of lawlessness. The rule of law has been replaced by the rule of the gun.

“There is no safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz,” Dominguez said this week. The IMO is working on evacuation plans. But these plans depend on a safety that does not exist. The Trump administration has moved to seize the oil from the captured tankers. This is the logic of the blockade. It is a cold, hard arithmetic that ignores the human cost. We are treating sailors like pawns on a chessboard.

These seafarers have families waiting at home. They have children who ask when their fathers will return. The ocean should be a bridge between nations. Today, it is a barrier. When we allow the seas to become a combat zone, we fail as a civilization. We must demand the release of these men. We must restore the sanctity of the passage. Without it, the world grows smaller and much more cruel.