Almost 6,000 seafarers “remain stranded” in the Gulf, the head of the International Maritime Organization said, as he called for “maximum restraint and de-escalation.”

“I condemn the attacks over the past two days against several ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” IMO secretary general Arsenio Dominguez says in a statement after US President Donald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was over. “These reckless attacks have again placed innocent seafarers in grave danger,” Dominguez adds.

World oil prices soared more than five percent Wednesday after Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was over, following fresh strikes in the Middle East.

International benchmark Brent North Sea crude jumped 5.3 percent to $78.09 a barrel, while the main US contract, West Texas Intermediate, advanced 5.4 percent to $74.23 a barrel.

The US has launched extensive strikes on Iran following attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, triggering a wave of reprisals against American bases in the Gulf.

Trump said at a NATO summit in Turkey the ceasefire was “over” but left the door open to more talks.

John Plassard, an analyst at Citi Gestation, said that the price of a barrel of oil rose “sharply” on Wednesday morning, but had not yet returned to the record levels seen during the war.

Plassard considered Trump’s announcement a “temporary suspension” of the ceasefire agreement, not its actual end, explaining that the US president’s remark that the ceasefire was “over” was also aimed at putting pressure on Iran.

He believes that Trump “does not want to completely halt the talks” for electoral reasons, after focusing on lowering oil prices during the midterm election campaign. (AFP)