Interviews and first-hand accounts from sailors stranded in the Persian Gulf — under threat of drone attacks, missiles, and exploding boats — reveal an increasingly dire humanitarian crisis unfolding.Iran's blockade of one of the world's most critical shipping lanes, the Strait of Hormuz, has unleashed pain on global markets.The normally busy strait has been mostly empty since the start of the war We thought we'd be in here for like a week, and then we'd pop out,'" Dr Mercogliano said."He goes, 'We just want to get out now.'"While the vast majority of the 2,000 or so ships in the Persian Gulf have so far been unscathed, just the threat of attack has been enough to ward off most crews from attempting to transit the strait."The biggest challenge is for all crew to be able to go home to their families," the Filipino sailor said.On Wednesday night, US President Donald Trump delivered a national address in which he reiterated the war with Iran would only last another two to three weeks.In the early stages of the war, Mr Trump had suggested the US could help escort ships out.But his more recent rhetoric suggested the US no longer had such plans, or any intention of helping to reopen the critical shipping lane, which Iran has effectively kept closed since the US and Israel's first strikes on Tehran."The United States imports almost no oil through the Hormuz Strait and won't be taking any in the future