US reinstates naval blockade on Iran

**Charlotte Gallagher** (0:00)
This is The Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.
I'm Charlotte Gallagher, and in the early hours of Tuesday, the 14th of July, these are our main stories. Tensions over the Strait of Hormuz continue to escalate with further strikes and demands from President Trump for a 20% charge to use the waterway. And a new European Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense Initiative is launched as Kiev suffers another night of Russian attacks. Also in this podcast, Hungary's new government pushes through an amended constitution in order to rapidly remove several figures linked to the previous administration.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:45)
And The law in Spain recognizes euthanasia as an intensely personal decision. It isn't appropriate for someone else to call that decision into question.

**Charlotte Gallagher** (0:56)
We hear about the division in Spain over its euthanasia laws.
We start in Iran, where the conflict over the Strait of Hormuz continues to escalate and President Trump says he'll reinstate a naval blockade. For a third night in a row, the US military says it has successfully struck military targets across the country. Tehran says there have been explosions in several locations, including islands in the Gulf. Meanwhile, Iran's Revolutionary Guards say they've been hitting oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and American targets in Bahrain. President Trump told journalists in the Oval Office that the US will act as a guardian of the Strait in return for a 20% charge on all cargo shipped through the waterway.

**Donald Trump** (1:48)
We're hitting them very hard.
We are just going forward. We're attacking them tonight. We're taking out all of their capability for anything having to do with the Strait, with the Hormuz Strait. And I think in the end, we will end up discontrolling the whole thing. We're putting the blockade back. The blockade was probably more effective even than hitting them. But I think the combination is a thing that really doesn't.

**Sean Lay** (2:14)
But you think a deal is still possible.

**Donald Trump** (2:15)
You think they'll return to the blockade? Yeah, I think a deal is possible. Sure, I do.
They are crazy and we're not going to put it up. Yeah, I want to be reimbursed because we're protecting a very rich portion of the world. We're spending money. And so what we've done is we are going to be reimbursed for protection.

**Charlotte Gallagher** (2:32)
Well, Iran has responded by saying those comments justify its demand to be able to control traffic and also charge a tariff. Oil prices have risen once again too.
I got more from our correspondent Tom Bateman in Washington.

**Tom Bateman** (2:47)
It's unclear just how quickly the Americans can get the blockade up and running again, although we've heard from US Central Command in the region there that this is effectively underway.
And I think out of all the things Donald Trump has been saying over the last day or two, this is one of those that will be seen on the Iranian side as one of the most provocative because the naval blockade was causing significant problems for Tehran in terms of what they need and want, which is financing money for reconstruction. And it's one of the biggest pressure points on the regime because people have been suffering not just because of the war but because of years of sanctions. And so it was a vital interest for the Iranians to get that naval blockade lifted, which was part of the discussions going into this memorandum of understanding about a month ago. And it's another way in which I think this whole situation is now deteriorating. And it's just a further kind of rung on the ladder of escalation as this entire situation moves back closer to something like a full blown conflict.

**Charlotte Gallagher** (3:49)
Because Iran's reaction to this was quite sarcastic. But do you think in reality they will be very worried about this?

**Tom Bateman** (3:55)
The sarcasm from Abbas Arachi, the foreign minister, was largely around this issue about charging ships money to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Because remember that the Iranians have been saying for a long time it was their right to charge what they'd called a fee for ships passing through the Strait. The Americans had always said, no, this is a toll. It's completely illegal under international law. You can't do that. And they had suggested that under the Memorandum of Understanding, the Iranians would not do this. But we then saw very clearly the Iranians seeming to suggest they would press ahead with this perhaps at the end of the 60 day period.
What we've had from President Trump is President Trump saying the Americans are going to charge, he says, a 20% fee on ships to pass the Strait of Hormuz and he says it is the Americans in control of it. Now that is objectively clearly untrue. The Americans do not have complete control of the Strait of Hormuz. And the idea of charging this vast sum for ships passing through appears to be for the birds. But the reality is what it does is to, in effect, endorse the concepts that the Americans were saying the Iranians simply couldn't do as a breach of international law. So there's again a lot of contradiction in the American position here. And I think the situation on the ground or on the water now is really serious. I mean, you know, you're seeing almost daily attacks now by both sides. Gulf countries are being struck again by the Iranians. The Americans are escalating the form of military attacks on the Iranians. So I think we're now locked into a cycle where, to be honest, I think Tehran is testing to see how far President Trump will go. But the scope now for miscalculation on either side, I think, is very severe and has the potential to lead to a far more grave escalation of the conflict.