Strait of Hormuz, Middle East & other topics – Daily Press Briefing (27 April 2026) | United Nations

Highlights:
– Strait of Hormuz
– Middle East
– Security Council
– Occupied Palestinian Territory
– Lebanon
– Syria
– Somalia
– Somalia/World Food Programme
– Sudan
– Afghanistan/Women and Girls
– Afghanistan
– Senior Personnel Appointment/UNAMA
– Jamaica
– Climate
– South Africa
– Trip Announcement
– South Sudan
– Hepatitis
– International Day
– Financial Contributions

STRAIT OF HORMUZ

The UN Trade and Development, or UNCTAD for short, has come up with an online dashboard to track shipping, food and energy prices, as well as financial markets, related to the Strait of Hormuz restrictions.
For instance, today, the dashboard says that ship transits related to the Strait of Hormuz have decreased by 95.3 percent since 28 February, while commodity food prices have risen by 6 percent and the crude oil price for Europe has risen by 53 percent since then. https://unctad.org/strait-of-hormuz-dashboard.

MIDDLE EAST

The Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for the Middle East Crisis and its Consequences, Jean Arnault, is consulting with senior UN officials following his visits to Iran, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Egypt. He also participated in the annual Antalya Diplomatic Forum in Türkiye. The Personal Envoy will continue to engage relevant Member States at Headquarters and in capitals as he works to support efforts aimed at helping the warring parties reach a comprehensive settlement.
During his visits to regional capitals, the Personal Envoy received first-hand briefings and personally witnessed the impact of the five-week armed escalation on civilians and civilian infrastructure across the region, following the United States–Israeli attack on Iran on 28 February 2026 and the subsequent Iranian attacks in the region.
The Personal Envoy remains available to support all efforts to assist the warring parties in moving towards a comprehensive settlement, including the initiative currently being pursued by the Government of Pakistan in cooperation with the Governments of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Türkiye.

SECURITY COUNCIL

Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, briefed the Security Council on the Middle East this morning and said that, away from the spotlight, the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is steadily worsening.
He said that the population in Gaza faces ongoing and deadly Israeli strikes and dire humanitarian conditions, while in the West Bank, violence including rampant settler violence, displacement, and accelerating settlement activity are threatening entire communities and further eroding the prospects for a political process that will resolve the conflict on the basis of a viable two-State solution.