UN Under-Secretary-General Jorge Moreira da Silva warned on Wednesday that parts of Asia and Africa could face a food security crisis unless Iran and the United States quickly reach an agreement on a UN-backed fertilizer shipment plan. He emphasized that with the planting season approaching, the two countries must agree to the proposal within weeks, or agricultural productivity will significantly decline and prices will rise substantially. The plan aims to establish a UN-coordinated center in Oman to assist with vessel registration and oversee their safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, which traditionally serves as a transit route for a large volume of critical global fertilizer inputs. Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has been severely disrupted since the US-Israel war against Iran began, with Iran attacking vessels in the strait and the US and Iran exchanging fire in and around these waters, leading to disruptions in global urea and seaborne sulfur supplies.