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According to U.S. military estimates, about 1,550 naval vessels — oil tankers, bulk carriers, container ships, and more — are operating in the Persian Gulf right now. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively blocked, their crews, many of them not involved in the ongoing war with Iran, are slowly using equipment as they wait for safe passage through the mine-laden waterway. Donald Trump he announced on Sunday that the United States will save “victims of the environment” by taking them out of the war zone in way yet to be determined. On Monday, however, Iran’s military rejected the plan, warning that US military forces would be attacked if they approached the strait.
Both sides opened fire yesterday, although the US claims that the ceasefire remains in place. The fact that Iran’s leaders are willing to risk violating the one-month peace deal underscores how fiercely they want to protect it. their hold on the narrow stream. The past 65 days of war have severely punished Iran: Its leaders are dead, its navy and air force have been decimated, and its economy and infrastructure have collapsed. “If we leave right now,” Trump he said last week, “it would take them 20 years to rebuild.” But amid the destruction, the country has also found new forms of self-reliance. Iran had not previously exercised this level of control over the Strait of Hormuz, and before the war, the country could not have been confident that it could do so. Even in its depleted state, Iran’s military has been able to intercept enemy ships and destroy anti-aircraft systems, maintaining its stranglehold on the strait while costing America billions.
After the US and Israel began their military action, the Iranian government said it would attack any ship that tried to pass through the strait, and began deploying mines as obstacles. Before the war, more than 130 ships passed each day; yesterday, that number was reduced to three. Ships crossing now often do so under the strict supervision of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is reportedly claim Tariffs on cryptocurrency and the Chinese Yuan, and redirecting traffic from Oman, to Iranian-controlled waters.
Iranian dominance over the channel may become the new normal. On Sunday, the Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Ali Nikzad emphasized that the country “will not back down” from its position on the sea, “and will not return to its pre-war situation.” That’s because the country’s blockade of the sea channel has been successful at a strategic level, causing a global energy shock and wreaking economic havoc around the world—putting greater pressure on the United States and Israel to come to the negotiating table. Trump has done it he demanded that Iran will “Open the Fuckin’ Strait,” but as Iran’s threats yesterday made clear, we are a long way from the pre-February status quo. Even when Iran’s leadership has committed to reopening the channel as part of a peace deal, as it has done in the past month, it has done so with the knowledge that Iran could regain control. That’s what happened on April 17, when the country declared the stream open to all; the next day, Iran imposed its restrictions on shipping, closing the waterway once again.
The strait is not the only vessel available to Iran. As recently as this weekend, Trump he said that the country has no “navy” and “no air force.” But US officials told it CBS in late April that they believe 60 percent of its navy is still “in existence” and two-thirds of its air force is “active.” Although the Iranian military is actually much weaker than the US military, it is also reported to be more capable than expected. Last week, the Pentagon released its first overall estimate cost of the war in Iran so far: $25 billion. One of America’s most advanced weapons it can cost millions; Iran’s signature drone-known as Shahed-136-cost tens of thousands alone, and has been threatening US allies, such as Kuwait, Bahrain, and Azerbaijan, throughout the region. The anti-aircraft weapons needed to hit them can cost more than the Shekhs themselves. And when the Shahds do penetrate the air defense, they can be death.
At the same time, of the country “mosquito ships” of smart, defense-evading boats have been threatening military and commercial vessels alike, demonstrating Iran’s prowess in the waterway. Admiral Brad Cooper, who heads the US Central Command, told reporters yesterday that the US had “bombed” six small Iranian boats in the area – a possible example of the IRGC’s declining capabilities. More commonly, Cooper explained, the Iranian military deploys “between 20 and 40 boats” when it intends to harass a ship. But reduced capacity is not the same as failure. Like my colleagues Nancy A. Youssef and Jonathan Lemire information last week, officials within the Trump administration have admitted to being surprised by Iran’s resilience.
Although Trump insists that Iran has been completely destroyed and that the war is over, the reality shows otherwise. After two months of war with the superpower, Iran is somewhat outmatched: The US said it bombed more than 13,000 targets during Operation Epic Fury. Yet Iran has refused to accept it, even as hundreds of its citizens have died and others have suffered as a result of the economic crisis. US efforts to fully degrade Iran’s defense capabilities may finally succeed. But the more Iran can inflict economic pain around the world, and the more its defense capabilities diminish, the more evidence its leaders have that it can continue to stand firm.
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Today’s news
- Defense Minister Pete Hegseth said that the US-led mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. it is “separate and separate” from the wider war with Iran and describe it as defensive and temporary.
- The World Health Organization said Human-to-human transmission is suspected in a cruise ship hantavirus outbreak which has killed three people and infected at least seven; the virus is usually spread to humans through contact with infected rodents. About 150 passengers remain stranded near Cabo Verde while two patients have been evacuated, but officials say the risk to the public is low.
- In an interview yesterday, President Trump He accused Pope Leo XIV of endangering Catholics by opposing the US-Iranian war. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to visit Rome and meet with the pope on Thursday.
Evening Read
What Increasing Race BMI Can Do
By Katherine J. Wu
In recent years, the risks of body mass index, or BMI, have become a hobbyhorse for experts in several fields of medicine and research. For decades, doctors have used BMI to help diagnose and treat obesity, diabetes, and other chronic conditions, as evidence has accumulated that the metric is a poor proxy for excess fat. BMI factors in height and weight but not actual body composition; Most people with a high BMI are the picture of health, and many with a “healthy” BMI are at high risk for metabolic syndrome. The case against BMI is strong enough that many in medicine would like it to be independent.
Gripes have been elevatedalso, regarding color-based treatment guidance. Although race can be tracked using some factors that influence health, such as lifestyle and socioeconomic status, its relationship to genetic differences is tenuous: Names such as “Black” and “Asian” encompass so many people, of such diverse origins, that they have no meaning as biological categories. While doctors have used race to assess well-being, they have missed the diagnosis and discriminated against patients. Experts now strongly consider many color tools in medicine to be dangerous and outdated, and are eager to leave them behind.
But researchers and clinicians still rely heavily on BMI and race, in some cases simultaneously.
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Rafaela Jinich contributed to this journal.
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