Richard Arnold: US Correspondent on the latest from the US-Iran war, US plans to resume blockade in the Hormuz Strait

US ships are preparing to block Iran's ports as both sides continue to trade strikes. 

Donald Trump's abandoned his earlier threat of a 20% fee on cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz, saying it will be replaced by trade deals with Gulf states. 

The global oil price benchmark Brent Crude is hovering around US$85 – one of its highest points in a month. 

US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that only ten ships went through the Strait yesterday – the lowest level in over a month. 

He says that before the way, the number would be around 130 ships a day. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Richard Arnold. Morning to you, morning, Mike God. It's training
keeping up with us, isn't it? Isn't it full of
the bouncing ball. Just hours after he's threatened to impose
a twenty percent fee on all ships going through the
oil channel, Trump says there will be no fee and
said he says the Gulf States have agreed to make
massive investment deals in the US of A. What deals
when who's benefit? None of that is clear, says Trump.

(00:23):
You have Saudi Arabia, Eue, Guitar, Bahrad.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
And Kuwait primarily, and then others.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
I spoke to.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
All of them, and they would love to invest more
money in the United States at record amounts, and that
would be very acceptable.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
And this way there's no fee. I don't like the
concept of the fee. Yeah. The Trump team, especially Rubio Advance,
had been claiming for weeks and weeks that fees were
illegal when it comes to international waterways. Trump then said
the US Navy would become quote the guardian Angels of
the Strait. The Pentagon moved to restart the US naval
blockade of in ports. That sort of takes effect about

(01:02):
an hour from now. Oil prices soared as the war
is seen to be flaring significantly with those tit for
tat military strikes in recent days, and the ten ships
went through the Strait yesterday, the lowest level in more
than one month. Before the war, the number would be
around one hundred and thirty a day. Oil prices spiked
now with this latest Trump reversal, though for that's somewhat

(01:22):
still the challenges. The challenges remain the same, don't they.
The US is trying to restore oil traffic to the
way it was before the war began. Richard Hass, former diplomat, says,
while the talks appear to have collapsed for now, some
sort of negotiation really is the only effective course, not
continuing military actions.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
The ships aren't safe. You can't do it. It just
is not a workable thing. At some point we need
to reach some accommodation with the Straits. And I think
after four months we ought to have learned we can't bomb.
We rode into capitulation.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
This is discussions arounds nuclear developments and not even being
carried on. The focus to begin with seems to be
an attempt to return things to write where they were
before the drones, missiles and bombs began to fly right.
Update me on Maine. Where are we at well, For
the second time in less than a week, we have
an innocent man who's been shot dead by ICE immigration agent.

(02:12):
So now ICE is reversing policy putting their traffic stops
on hold. Forbitz's former FBI official Andrew McCay, it's about time. Yeah,
these latest shootings are shocking. Really, Texas lawmaker, why King
Castro caused them? Quote cold blooded murder? Twenty six year
old One Guerrero from Columbia's latest victim. He worked at
a veterinary practice in a small center in Maine, near Portland.

(02:36):
He has had a three year old daughter. He was
authorized to work in this country, and the Trump administration
mets he wasn't even the target of the ICE operations. Instead,
he was driving when unmarked ICE vehicles moved to stop him.
His car was seen turning in slow circles. Then, citing
threats to public safety, an ICE agents shot him through
his windscreen. This is graphics, So let me caution folks,

(02:59):
as a wit recorded those gunshots. Yeah, Witness Daniel Bouche
says of what he saw in this situation.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Put him on the ground, and I heard the young
man say I tried to stop, clearly hurt him. Say that.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
Bouchet then says, in terms of what he witnessed, I
could no longer see any movement in which Schmidt that
he inspired. His head was bloody, his face was bloody
and was awful. It was awful, threat to public safety.
What was the threat to public safety? You know, if
police do traffic stops, they'll typically alert colleagues to stop

(03:37):
a fleeing vehicle later on down the road. They do
not open fire at traffic stops, killing the driver. While
in Houston last week, another man was shot dead, fifty
two year old Lorenzo Rojo. He also was not the
intended target for the arrest warrant. All this reminiscent, of course,
of what happened in Minneapolis when Renee Good and Alex
Petty were killed by ICE agents, and Christy Noom then

(03:59):
lost her job as head of Homeland Security. After the
killings in Minneapolis, US lawmakers gave Ice twenty million dollars
US to pay for body cams that must, they said,
be worn by ICE operators. Five months later, in these
deadly traffic stops in Mainland Texas, no body cams. All right,
I'm seeing a couple of days Richard Nald. For more

(04:20):
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