UN Official Warns US and Iran Have Weeks to Prevent Food Crisis

According to Jorge Moreira da Silva, the fertilizer transit issue requires an urgent solution.

"Achieving an agreement in the next few weeks is absolutely critical," said Moreira da Silva, who also chairs a UN task force on humanitarian shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Otherwise, we will lose the planting season. He added: If we lose that planting season, agricultural productivity will decrease significantly and its impact on prices will increase significantly.

According to this UN official, the fertilizer transit issue needs an urgent solution. The United States and Iran should not make it conditional on a comprehensive agreement that the parties may reach later. "What we're saying to them is, while you continue your discussions for a comprehensive agreement, let us work, let us do our work," Moreira da Silva said.

"Before the war, the waterway handled almost a third of the world's trade in urea - the world's most widely used fertilizer - and almost half of marine sulphur, a key input," the ambassador said.