00:00Our top story today, the U.S. military striking Iran for the second straight day's training, an already fragile ceasefire.
00:07The U.S. Central Command says the additional strikes were aimed at preventing Iran from targeting ships in the Strait
00:14of Hormuz.
00:15It also says the U.S. is holding Iran to account for attacks on commercial shipping in the international waterway.
00:22Meanwhile, on the flight back to Washington from the NATO summit in Turkey, Trump told reporters the U.S. stands
00:28ready to escalate further.
00:31We just hit them very hard. And I say we hit them 20 to 1. Every time they hit us,
00:36we're going to hit them 20.
00:38And we did it last night. It did a little something today, but it was really retribution for last night.
00:45They hit actually three boats, not two. And when they hit, we hit back much harder.
00:53Let's get more with our Middle East correspondent, Abir Abu Omar, joining us from Dubai.
00:57Abir, the latest strikes casting doubt on the prospects for negotiations.
01:04Yeah, good morning, Heslinda.
01:06There were doubts to begin with even before those attacks.
01:09The ceasefire or the negotiations over this MOU for the next 60 days or so have already been a little
01:15bit rocky.
01:16But then we saw President Trump yesterday making these pretty strong remarks at the NATO summit, calling the Iranians, and
01:23I quote him, scum, calling them liars, saying that as far as he's concerned, the ceasefire negotiations are over.
01:31But then, Heslinda, it's quite important here to bring on the nuance, the caveats around this.
01:37And it's the fact that in his own remarks, President Trump later on said that the negotiators, namely Jared Kushner
01:43and Steve Witkoff, are free to continue the talks if they wanted to.
01:48They'll have to come back to him.
01:49And so these are not remarks that we haven't seen President Trump make before, albeit a little bit stronger last
01:56yesterday.
01:57But it goes back to this back and forth that President Trump has maintained over the course of the past
02:03three, four months or so of saying they will attack Iran, but then saying that the negotiations are going in
02:07a strong direction.
02:09But what we saw overnight is definitely concerning.
02:12We saw Brent Price is also climbing on the back of that.
02:16Axios reporting earlier that the U.S. had struck railway bridges in the northern part of Iran.
02:22So this retaliation by the United States continues.
02:25And it's in the aftermath of Iran attacking a ship in the Strait of Hormuz at the beginning of this
02:32week.
02:32This was a Qatar-flagged, LNG-laden ship.
02:35We're not sticking to the route that it had laid out for ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
02:40And so we're seeing two days of attacks or two days of retaliation by the United States.
02:45President Trump threatening more escalations.
02:47Iran, on the other hand, coming out with its top negotiators and other officials saying that this is not going
02:53to work out with bullying.
02:54And as far as they're concerned, parts of the ceasefire are rendered ineffective due to the United States' actions.
03:01And so back and forth, tit-for-tat actions we're seeing yet again in the Middle East, Heslinda.
03:06But it's a situation that is fast developing with countries in the GCC up until the early hours of this
03:11morning being attacked.
03:14And we're taking a look at Brent, currently above $79 a barrel.
03:19But the question still remains about the Strait of Hormuz.
03:22Is there freedom of navigation?
03:24What happens now?
03:28It's a good question, Heslinda.
03:29Look, I mean, the variables are still very much moving for the time being.
03:33We're seeing the trickle of movement.
03:35And again, even before all of this, our energy colleagues have put out these notes about the fact that the
03:40trickle of movement in the Strait of Hormuz is still nowhere near where it was pre-war.
03:44And this adds just another layer of complication.
03:48Now, what we know about the Strait of Hormuz is the fact that the paradigm has definitely changed for Iran.
03:53Iran woke up to the fact after this war that it has and can lay out control over the Strait
03:59of Hormuz.
03:59So they're holding the waterway as a leverage point in their negotiations with the United States.
04:05And the message is quite clear from the Iranian side.
04:09Stick to the roots that we've laid out or the threat of being attacked is very much real.
04:14Now, it's not clear how the U.S. would respond to that or how ships and ship owners would start
04:19treading through the waterway.
04:21We've already been seeing them treading with a little bit more caution over the past couple of weeks or so,
04:26just understanding how they can carry their movement through this waterway and asking for permission, if you were, from the
04:34Iranian side on just exactly what routes to take out.
04:37But this is just going to be the new reality going forward with Iran and the United States, Heslinda.
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