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The Iran war is keeping thousands of tonnes of food aid locked out of famine-hit Sudan and other countries in Africa as the effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz roils global shipping.
Emergency food deliveries are stuck at ports in Oman and Kenya, where shippers are contending with huge backlogs brought about by the strait’s closure, according to the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP). Thousands of tonnes destined for Sudan have been delayed as long as 50 days, the WFP said.
The near-halt of traffic through Hormuz has upended markets for all kinds of commodities from oil and gas to industrial and agricultural products. The disruption has hit organisations like the WFP hard, as essential supplies pile up at ports, a situation that is made worse by cuts to humanitarian aid by a slew of major donor countries.
For Sudan, “we need to find ways to get there faster”, said WFP director of supply chain Corinne Fleischer in an interview from Rome. People are already “living hand-to-mouth because of the reduction of humanitarian financing”.
The upheaval in the shipping industry has left hundreds of vessels stranded on the water or at the wrong ports, with the chaos extending far beyond the Middle East. Ships that do set sail are often rerouted, resulting in longer and costlier journeys to reach their final destination.
Among the delayed cargoes for Sudan are five million enriched-food sachets that would prevent malnutrition for about 200,000 children and breastfeeding mothers for a month, Ms Fleischer said. A further consignment being sent by sea from Mombasa in Kenya to Sudan’s main port has a 40-day delay, she said.
Sudan’s civil war, now in its a fourth year, has caused a humanitarian disaster. The UN estimates almost 34 million people urgently need aid.
Essential food destined for neighbouring Ethiopia and Somalia has also been affected by the disruptions to shipping, Ms Fleischer said.
Meanwhile, the WFP is struggling to send supplies into Afghanistan, where 17 million people face food insecurity. The agency previously sent deliveries from Pakistan, but when conflict between the two countries erupted late in 2025, it rerouted shipments via Bandar Abbas port in Iran.
Now, with access to Iranian ports also disrupted, the food is being trucked across multiple countries, adding three weeks to the journey.
The WFP says about 70,000 tonnes of food aid are stuck or delayed in transit due to the war in the Middle East. BLOOMBERG
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