Top Stories — Tuesday, April 14, 2026
What is trending in the USA today? Here is Breaking News:
- In Rare Talks, Israeli and Lebanese Officials Look for Way Forward — nyt News
- China calls U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz 'dangerous and irresponsible' — CNBC
- Here’s the latest. — nyt News
In Rare Talks, Israeli and Lebanese Officials Look for Way Forward
Source: nyt News • Published: 4/14/2026, 2:04:43 PM
Israel’s continued bombardment of Lebanon and widened ground invasion have left the cease-fire with Iran on shaky ground, and Israeli and Lebanese officials were expected to hold rare talks on Tuesday in Washington to try to find a way forward.
The meeting would be the first direct, in-person talks between Israel and Lebanon — which do not have diplomatic relations — in decades.
But the talks will be largely preparatory, according to a Lebanese official and another person briefed on them, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy. They are not expected to immediately produce a deal that would end the war between Hezbollah and Israel, and the two sides remain sharply opposed in their aims for the talks.
President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon told Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, that Lebanon was hoping that a cease-fire would be reached, after which direct negotiations could begin, according to a statement shared by the Lebanese presidency on Monday. Mr. Aoun said that any long-term solution must entail Israel’s heeding the growing international calls for it to stop attacking Lebanon.
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has ruled out a cease-fire and said that Israel would not stop its attacks on Lebanon. The aim of the discussions in Washington would be disarming Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group, and establishing a lasting peace deal with Lebanon, he has said.
Mr. Netanyahu agreed last week to engage in the talks as Iran warned that it could withdraw from the cease-fire unless Israel stopped attacking Lebanon.
The meeting will include Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter; his Lebanese counterpart, Nada Hamadeh Moawad; and the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will also take part in the talks, according to the State Department.
Lebanon is reeling from weeks of Israeli bombardment that has displaced more than one million residents and, according to the Lebanese health ministry, killed 2,089 people and injured 6,762 others as of Monday. The war between Hezbollah and Israel reignited last month after Hezbollah fired on Israel in solidarity with Iran.
Israeli attacks on Lebanon have become a flashpoint in the fragile cease-fire between Iran and the United States. Iran insists that Lebanon is covered by the agreement. Iran and the United States say it isn’t.
Israel sharply escalated its attacks in the hours after the cease-fire was reached last week, killing at least 357 people in Lebanon on Wednesday, according to the Lebanese authorities.
Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem, said in a televised speech on Monday that Hezbollah categorically rejected Lebanon’s planned talks with Israel. He called on Lebanese authorities to cancel the talks, urging them not to become “a tool of Israel.”
Proceeding with the talks would represent “capitulation and surrender” to a country intent on occupying Lebanon, Mr. Qassem said.
Hwaida Saad contributed reporting.
Anushka Patil is a Times reporter covering breaking and developing news around the world.
Read the full story at nyt News.
China calls U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz 'dangerous and irresponsible'
Source: CNBC • Published: 4/14/2026, 1:38:20 PM
China has called the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz a "dangerous and irresponsible act" that will further enflame tensions in the region.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday that the targeted blockade of the vital shipping channel, which began at 10:00 a.m. ET on Monday, coupled with an increase in U.S. military deployment, risks undermining an "already fragile ceasefire situation."
Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a press conference that only a full ceasefire can help ease the situation, adding that Beijing would make efforts to help restore peace and stability in the Middle East.
China — which has long backed the regime in Tehran — has a key interest in the Strait being reopened, with Beijing being the largest buyer of Iranian crude. The blockade directly cuts off that supply and potentially has a far-reaching impact on the Chinese economy.
The U.S. began preventing ships from entering and exiting Iranian ports in the vital waterway on Monday in a bid to force Iran to reopen the waterway, after peace talks in Islamabad faltered over the weekend.
The measure marks a sharp escalation in the conflict despite a pause in hostilities agreed April 7.
The spokesman also dismissed reports of China supplying weapons to Islamic Republic as "completely made up."
"China believes that only by achieving a comprehensive ceasefire and ending the war can we fundamentally create conditions for easing the situation in the strait," he said in a statement.
"China urges all parties to abide by the ceasefire arrangements, focus on the general direction of dialogue and peace talks, take practical actions to promote the easing of the regional situation, and restore normal traffic in the strait as soon as possible."
Oil prices retreated below $100 a barrel on Tuesday amid reports of diplomatic resolution to the six-week conflict. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was about 1% lower in early trade at $98.44, while prices of U.S. West Texas Intermediate for May delivery was 2.6% lower, at $96.48 per barrel.
Here’s the latest.
Source: nyt News • Published: 4/14/2026, 1:24:51 PM
Beirut11:38 a.m. April 14
The United States and Iran have traded proposals for a suspension of Iranian nuclear activities, but remain far apart on the length of any agreement, according to Iranian and U.S. officials.
During weekend negotiations in Pakistan, the United States asked Iran for a 20-year suspension of uranium enrichment. The Iranians, in a formal response sent on Monday, said they would agree to up to five years, according to two senior Iranian officials and one U.S. official. President Trump rejected Iran’s offer, according to a U.S. official.
Still, the discussions suggested a possible path to a deal, even as the U.S. military began its blockade of Iranian ports.
Officials also said they were discussing a second round of face-to-face talks, but provided no details.
In Washington, Israeli and Lebanese officials were set to hold rare talks on Tuesday, as Israel’s continued bombardment of Lebanon and expanded ground operations strained a fragile cease-fire with Iran.
The meeting is expected to be largely preparatory and is not likely to produce an immediate deal, according to a Lebanese official and another person briefed on the plans. The sides remain far apart, with Lebanon calling for a cease-fire and Israel signaling it would continue its campaign against Hezbollah.
Tensions continued to escalate over the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump announced a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports along the strait after high-level negotiations with Iran broke down over the weekend, and said that other countries would join in. But on Monday, several European leaders rejected the idea, and several ships coming from Iran were able to cross the Strait of Hormuz in the hours before and after the U.S. military blockade, according to the global trade analysis firm Kpler.
Ship-tracking data also showed a tanker that had been placed under sanctions by the United States reversing course near the strait shortly before the blockade but then completing its passage later.
Here’s what else we’re covering:
Israel: The 40-day war with Iran and the continued war with Hezbollah have left many Israelis despairing over how little they believe the fighting accomplished, particularly compared with what they had been promised, according to two new polls. Read more ›
Death tolls: The Human Rights Activists News Agency said at least 1,701 civilians, including 254 children, had been killed in Iran as of Wednesday. Lebanon’s health ministry on Monday said that 2,089 people had been killed in the latest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, including 357 in a wave of Israeli strikes last Wednesday. In attacks attributed to Iran, at least 32 people have been killed in Gulf nations. At least 22 people had been killed in Israel as of Sunday, as well as 12 Israeli soldiers fighting in Lebanon. The American death toll stands at 13 service members.
Israel’s continued bombardment of Lebanon and widened ground invasion have left the cease-fire with Iran on shaky ground, and Israeli and Lebanese officials were expected to hold rare talks on Tuesday in Washington to try to find a way forward.
The meeting would be the first direct, in-person talks between Israel and Lebanon — which do not have diplomatic relations — in decades.
But the talks will be largely preparatory, according to a Lebanese official and another person briefed on them, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy. They are not expected to immediately produce a deal that would end the war between Hezbollah and Israel, and the two sides remain sharply opposed in their aims for the talks.
President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon told Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, that Lebanon was hoping that a cease-fire would be reached, after which direct negotiations could begin, according to a statement shared by the Lebanese presidency on Monday. Mr. Aoun said that any long-term solution must entail Israel’s heeding the growing international calls for it to stop attacking Lebanon.
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has ruled out a cease-fire and said that Israel would not stop its attacks on Lebanon. The aim of the discussions in Washington would be disarming Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group, and establishing a lasting peace deal with Lebanon, he has said.
Mr. Netanyahu agreed last week to engage in the talks as Iran warned that it could withdraw from the cease-fire unless Israel stopped attacking Lebanon.
The meeting will include Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter; his Lebanese counterpart, Nada Hamadeh Moawad; and the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will also take part in the talks, according to the State Department.
Lebanon is reeling from weeks of Israeli bombardment that has displaced more than one million residents and, according to the Lebanese health ministry, killed 2,089 people and injured 6,762 others as of Monday. The war between Hezbollah and Israel reignited last month after Hezbollah fired on Israel in solidarity with Iran.
Israeli attacks on Lebanon have become a flashpoint in the fragile cease-fire between Iran and the United States. Iran insists that Lebanon is covered by the agreement. Iran and the United States say it isn’t.
Israel sharply escalated its attacks in the hours after the cease-fire was reached last week, killing at least 357 people in Lebanon on Wednesday, according to the Lebanese authorities.
Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem, said in a televised speech on Monday that Hezbollah categorically rejected Lebanon’s planned talks with Israel. He called on Lebanese authorities to cancel the talks, urging them not to become “a tool of Israel.”
Proceeding with the talks would represent “capitulation and surrender” to a country intent on occupying Lebanon, Mr. Qassem said.
Hwaida Saad contributed reporting.
Two tankers traveling to and from the United Arab Emirates also crossed the Strait of Hormuz safely on Monday, according to Kpler. The NV Sunshine, an Indonesian tanker, entered the strait en route to the United Arab Emirates, while the Marshall Islands-flagged New Future carried petroleum products from Hamriya, an Emirati port, to Oman. Kpler did not provide specific transit times.
The Rich Starry, a Guyanese-flagged tanker operated by a Chinese shipping company with a Chinese crew, crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday morning, according to Kpler. It had picked up methanol from an unspecified port in the Persian Gulf and was bound for China.
The ship-tracking platform MarineTraffic showed the tanker approaching the strait, then making a U-turn around 9 a.m. Eastern on Monday, an hour before the U.S. blockade began. Half an hour later, it turned back toward the strait and passed through before exiting early Tuesday. The Rich Starry, previously known as the Full Star, was sanctioned by the United States in 2023 for helping Iran evade sanctions.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain defended his opposition to the war in the Middle East during a visit to Beijing on Tuesday. Israel and the United States have criticized Spain in recent weeks for its strong stance against the conflict. Without explicitly referring to them, Sánchez lamented that those who “raise our voices” against violations of international law “find ourselves, paradoxically, facing threats.”
“Spain will continue to stand on the right side of history, defending what is just and lawful,” Sánchez said after an hourlong meeting with China’s leader, Xi Jinping. He also urged Xi to play a role in advancing peace efforts in the Middle East.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun on Tuesday called the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz “dangerous and irresponsible,” warning it would worsen tensions, undermine a fragile cease-fire and risk safe transit through the strait.
Just before Vice President JD Vance left Islamabad early Sunday morning, he described Iran and the United States as worlds apart, chiefly on the question of assurances that Iran can never build a nuclear weapon — “not just now, not just two years from now, but for the long term.”
It turns out that the Trump administration’s idea of the long term is 20 years.
As details of Mr. Vance’s 21-hour visit to Pakistan spilled out on Monday, people familiar with the negotiations said the U.S. position was not a permanent ban on nuclear enrichment by Iran. Instead, the United States proposed a 20-year “suspension” of all nuclear activity. That would allow the Iranians to claim they had not permanently given up their right, under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, to produce their own nuclear fuel.
In response, Iran renewed a proposal that it suspend nuclear activity for up to five years, according to two senior Iranian officials and one U.S. official. The Iranians had made a very similar proposal in February during a failed set of negotiations in Geneva that convinced President Trump it was time to go to war. Days later, he ordered the attack on Iran.
There are several other issues looming over the negotiations, including restoring free passage in the Strait of Hormuz and ending Iran’s support for proxy groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. But Iran’s refusal to end its nuclear ambitions, dismantle its huge atomic infrastructure and ship its stockpile of fuel out of the country has always been the central dispute.
So the revelation that the two sides are now arguing over the time period for suspending nuclear activity suggests that there may well be room for a deal, and there were indications on Monday that negotiators may meet again in the coming days. White House officials said no meetings had been finalized, but another round of in-person negotiations was being discussed.
But for Mr. Trump and his aides there is also the risk that any agreement that emerges may resemble the 2015 nuclear accord, which the president exited three years later and called a “horrible, one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made.”
At the core of Mr. Trump’s complaint about the Obama accord, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was that it contained “sunsets.” And it did: The Iranians were allowed gradually more enrichment activity until 2030, when all restrictions would evaporate. (Iran’s commitments under the nonproliferation treaty would still ban it from building a bomb.)
But the Obama deal did not involve a full suspension of nuclear activity, which would buy at least a few years of zero nuclear activity — past Mr. Trump’s term in office.
“If they could get Iran to suspend for even a few years, that is superior to what we got in the J.C.P.O.A.,” said Rob Malley, who was on the negotiating team in 2015 for the Obama administration and then led an ultimately fruitless effort during President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s administration to restore some kind of agreement.
In fact, the history of America’s interactions with Iran is littered with efforts to buy more time. Sometimes that has come by sabotaging the program, as the United States and Israel did by using cyberweapons to make nuclear centrifuges self-destruct. Sometimes it involved sanctions, and at other times diplomatic agreements.
But the result has been that it has taken Iran longer to get to a bomb than almost any other country that has seriously sought to build one — longer than North Korea, India, Pakistan or Israel, all of which now have nuclear arsenals.
The status of the current negotiations was described by officials and experts who declined to speak on the record because of the sensitivity of the talks. Like the Obama administration, the Trump White House is trying to preserve the secrecy of the negotiating room, so that it has maximum room to cut a deal. And like the Obama administration, it is discovering that both sides engage in strategic leaking.
Mr. Vance said on Monday evening that there were “some good conversations” with Iran in Pakistan, and the ball is now in Tehran’s court.
“The big question from here on out is whether Iranians will have enough flexibility,” he said on Fox News.
Mr. Vance said Iran showed some flexibility but “didn’t move far enough.” As to whether there would be additional talks, he said the question would be “best put to the Iranians.”
At the White House, Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, said that “President Trump, Vice President Vance and the negotiating team have made the U.S. red lines very clear.”
“The Iranians’ desperation for a deal will only increase with President Trump’s highly effective naval blockade now in effect,” she said in a statement, “which is sending oil tankers towards the big, beautiful Gulf of America.”
Another sticking point centers on the U.S. demand that Iran remove 970 pounds of near-bomb-grade uranium from the country, to ensure it could never be diverted to a bomb project. Trump has weighed sending in ground troops to Isfahan to secure the bulk of the highly enriched uranium, which is stored deep underground in what look like large scuba-diving tanks.
The Iranians have insisted the fuel must stay inside Iran. But they have offered, as they did in Geneva, to dilute it significantly so that it could not be used to produce a nuclear weapon.
That, too, would extend the timeline to a bomb. The risk, of course, is that the Iranians would still have possession of the fuel and in the future might be able to re-enrich it to its current state of about 60 percent purity, just below the 90 percent needed to make a weapon.
As the talks move to their next stage, one thing to watch is whether Iran gets back money it believes it was owed.
Mr. Trump has complained for years, and repeated in recent weeks, that the Obama administration released “planeloads” of cash to Iran — a reference to returning $1.4 billion in Iranian assets long frozen by the United States, plus $300 million in accumulated interest. (Some of it did go in pallets of cash aboard an airplane, because Western banks were prohibited from doing business with Iranian entities.)
It is too early to know how it will turn out, but part of the negotiations underway now involve Iran’s demand that the West unfreeze roughly $6 billion in funds from oil sales, which have been tied up in Qatar because of sanctions that date to Mr. Trump’s first term.
Farnaz Fassihi and Ephrat Livni contributed reporting.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told his French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, on Monday that Washington’s “excessive” and continually changing demands thwarted an agreement during negotiations to end the war over the weekend, Iranian state media reported. But Araghchi said there was “progress on many issues discussed,” a comment not unlike one Vice President JD Vance made in an interview on Fox News on Monday evening.
An Iran-linked tanker appeared to travel through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday after the United States imposed a blockade on vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports, according to tracking data from MarineTraffic. The vessel, called Elpis, was in the strait between Oman and Iran when the blockade began at 10 a.m. Eastern time, according to MarineTraffic. It continued its voyage toward the Gulf of Oman, on the eastern side of the strait. The U.S. Treasury Department last year put the Elpis — then registered under a different name — on a list of vessels subject to sanctions because of their “role in brokering the sale and transportation of Iranian petroleum-related products.” CNN earlier reported the Elpis’s passage.
Reporting from the Capitol
Republicans in Congress have scrapped an opportunity to publicly question senior Pentagon officials next week on the war in Iran, postponing a scheduled hearing until late May as they continue to resist exercising oversight of the far-reaching military operation.
The House Armed Services Committee had scheduled testimony by Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, and Gen. Dagvin R.M. Anderson, leader of the military’s Africa Command, on April 21.
But majority Republicans put off the session until May 19. And it was not certain whether a Senate panel scheduled to hear from the same officials on April 23 would go forward with that hearing either.
The senior Democrat on the House committee, who said the delay was based on Admiral Cooper’s availability and his being “busy with the war,” criticized the move, arguing that it would deprive lawmakers of a crucial chance to get answers about the conflict.
“Congressional oversight is crucially important,” said Representative Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. “We are six weeks into this conflict. And we still haven’t gotten a public briefing from anyone in the administration about the war.”
The hearing had been intended to serve as the annual review of the Defense Department’s operations and policies in the Middle East and Africa as lawmakers gear up to write the annual defense policy bill for 2027. Democrats had already been clamoring for a separate public hearing focused strictly on the war, in addition to the routine session.
“But now we’re not even getting that” for another month, Mr. Smith said, saying the postponement would mean that lawmakers would continue to go without answers to questions about the strategic goals, total costs and broader regional implications of the war.
The deferral comes after President Trump on Sunday ordered a “complete” American blockade of the Strait of Hormuz that would take effect on Monday, though U.S. Central Command later said it would seek to stop only vessels transiting to or from Iranian ports. Asked whether the Senate Armed Services Committee would go ahead with its scheduled testimony from Admiral Cooper and General Anderson on April 23, the Republican chairman, Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, would not comment.
Heather Vaughan, a spokeswoman for Representative Mike Rogers of Alabama, the chairman of the House committee, said the public hearing with Admiral Cooper was “critically important.”
“Given his focus on the dynamic situation in Iran, we’re rescheduling to make sure he can be present so committee members can hear his testimony and ask questions about our posture in the Middle East,” she said.
Since the beginning of the U.S. strikes on Iran, Democrats have called for senior members of the Trump administration to testify on Capitol Hill.
“I don’t think that the majority is necessarily opposed to that type of public hearing,” Mr. Smith said. “The administration has just made it clear, and the Pentagon has made it clear, that they don’t want to provide it, and so the majority is willing to yield to that opinion.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to testify before the House Armed Services Committee on April 29 for the first time since the war began. That session will fall exactly 60 days after Mr. Trump ordered strikes on Tehran on Feb. 28. But it will be at an annual budget hearing, not an oversight hearing focused on the war.
Vice President JD Vance, speaking with Bret Baier on his Fox News show on Monday evening, said progress had been made and that there were “some good conversations” with Iran during talks in Pakistan over the weekend. According to Vance, the ball is now in Iran’s court and “the big question from here on out is whether Iranians will have enough flexibility.”
Vance said Iran showed some flexibility but “didn’t move far enough.” As to whether there would be additional talks, Vance said the question would be “best put to the Iranians.” When asked about the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, he noted that it would be critical to any deal. There is “a grand deal to be had,” Vance said, though he put the onus on Iran to make it happen.
During the peace negotiations in Islamabad over the weekend, the United States asked Iran for a 20-year suspension of uranium enrichment. The Iranians, in a formal response sent on Monday, said they would agree to up to five years, according to two senior Iranian officials and one U.S. official. Trump has rejected that offer, the U.S. official said.
The official said the U.S. has also asked Iran to remove highly enriched uranium from the country, and the Iranians have insisted the fuel stays inside Iran. But they have offered to dilute it significantly, so that it could not be used to produce a nuclear weapon. (The risk is that the Iranians would still have possession of the fuel and in the future might be able to re-enrich it to bomb grade.)
There are also discussions of holding another round of in-person negotiations, but officials say no plans have been finalized.
As a naval officer, John Ismay boarded tankers smuggling oil in the Persian Gulf and passed through the Strait of Hormuz several times on warships in 2000, 2009 and 2010. He reported from Washington.
The U.S. naval blockade of Iran that began on Monday has little precedent in recent decades, and the military has offered few details on how it might carry the operation out.
But previous operations in the Middle East may offer some clues to what the blockade could look like in practice. The Navy has a track record of monitoring the movements of merchant ships, and taking them over whether they want to be boarded or not.
On Sunday, President Trump said he was ordering a blockade of Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway separating the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman that is a transit point for much of the world’s oil.
On Monday, the U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, appeared to narrow the scope, saying it would prevent merchant ships from traveling to or from Iranian ports. An advisory issued to mariners in the region said details were “in development.”
Central Command said the blockade would be “enforced impartially against vessels of all nations” and would apply to Iranian ports on both sides of the strait.
When asked how the blockade would work in practice, Central Command pointed to a news release announcing the blockade as well as an advisory issued by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations organization, which is administered by the British Royal Navy. Neither document says what would happen to merchant ships that try to run through the blockade.
Navy destroyers could monitor Iranian ports with their radars, tracking the ships coming in and out of each, but that would take a large commitment of U.S. warships to cover Iran’s long southern coast. Central Command could instead opt to keep a contingent of destroyers on either side of the Strait of Hormuz to board ships and use surveillance drones to monitor the ports instead.
Once a vessel has been identified as a “contact of interest,” a destroyer could be dispatched to intercept it. After closing the distance between them and coming within visual range, the destroyer would most likely hail the vessel over maritime VHF radio, querying it according to a script that asks for information such as the ship’s destination, its last port of call, what kind of cargo it is carrying and the number of crew members aboard.
The warship could then ask the vessel to accept a “boarding party” of sailors to inspect it.
Ideally, the vessel would answer the warship’s radio calls and agree to be boarded, adjusting its course and speed and lowering a rope ladder to make the boarding safer and easier.
Or it could ignore the warship’s messages and try to make a run for it.
A Navy boarding party could approach in a motorboat and use telescoping poles to hook a narrow caving ladder on the side of the target vessel. But the task becomes far more challenging and dangerous in rough seas, at night and when the target vessel is maneuvering to foil the boarding.
The best option then is to fly the boarding team over in a helicopter and slide down thick braided lines called fast-ropes to the ship’s deck. If helicopters are available, and the boarding party has the right training, fast-roping aboard is much safer and can be done far more quickly than attempting a “hook and climb” from a motorboat.
In recent memory, teams of Marines and Coast Guardsmen frequently fast-roped to board tankers in the Caribbean carrying Venezuelan oil. However, those tankers have cost the United States tens of millions of dollars to hold, and the Trump administration cannot legally sell their oil without a judge’s permission.
Yes. More than a decade’s worth.
After the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the United Nations established a system in which Iraq could export its oil so long as proceeds of those sales benefited its citizens — often referred to as the “oil for food” program.
Navy warships routinely boarded tankers trying to smuggle Iraqi oil out of the Persian Gulf until President George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The vast majority of those boardings were “compliant” — Navy parlance for when the boarded vessel cooperates.
Small teams of U.S. sailors would be placed on tankers found to be smuggling Iraqi oil, and they would sail the ship to holding areas in the Gulf code-named for professional baseball stadiums, such as Fenway and Comiskey, where the tanker would be anchored.
The ships would eventually go to a port in the Gulf where the host nation would sell the oil as payment for taking responsibility for the vessel and its crew. The tankers would be sold at auction, often purchased by the same holding company that owned the ship before.
It was a bit of a revolving door.
Yes. But not in the Strait of Hormuz, and not at this scale for a long time.
The last time the service tried to blockade all shipping to a nation was in October 1962, when President John F. Kennedy ordered a “quarantine” of Cuba during the crisis over the Soviet Union’s deployment of nuclear weapons to the island nation. (“Quarantine” and “blockade” appear on different pages of the dictionary, but when applied to stopping shipping, they have the same meaning. Under international law, a naval blockade of a nation is an act of war.)
More recently, the Trump administration has carried out what it has sometimes called blockades of Venezuela and Cuba, but those targeted oil shipments and did not approach the totality of the blockade on Iran.
Amid an American blockade on Iranian ports and continued uncertainty about the war in the Middle East, oil prices rose on Monday. But investors’ concerns seemed assuaged when President Trump told reporters on Monday afternoon that Iran still wanted to achieve a deal, leaving open the possibility that talks could restart. Trump’s comments helped drive down Brent crude, the global benchmark, to $99.36 from $102 earlier in the day. The S&P 500 closed about 1 percent higher on Monday, after rebounding from a small loss earlier in the day.
Read the full story at nyt News.
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