Trump plans to reopen Strait of Hormuz

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1:14This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Charlotte Gallagher and in the early hours of Monday, the 4th of May, these are our main stories. The US is to deploy Navy destroyers, aircraft and troops to restore navigational freedom in the Strait of Hormuz. But Iran warns any interference could end the ceasefire. We also hear from people in Iran on their fears for the future. And World Press Freedom Day. How are things looking for journalists around the globe? Also in this podcast. I never like to show up too boring. So I think I have a pretty good idea. And let's see if people like it.

1:58As some celebrities gear up for the Met Gala, others are asking if it's still the invite everyone wants. Now the boss of Amazon is funding it.

2:11For weeks now, hundreds of ships have been stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway, which has become one of Iran's most powerful weapons in the ongoing war with the US and Israel. To try and end the long standoff which has seen oil prices rocket, Donald Trump has announced a fresh initiative dubbed Project Freedom, which will begin in the coming hours and see US military vessels attempt to free stranded ships and escort them through the Iranian blockade. At the same time, informal talks on ending the fighting continue, with the US reported to have responded to a 10-point Iranian proposal, which would have ended hostilities but left Tehran's controversial nuclear program unresolved.

2:52I asked Bahman Kalbasi from BBC Persian how Project Freedom would work. It's unclear what the response will be if Iran decides to attack every vessel that the US is escorting, although the United States president has talked about these vessels being non-hostile and that they will never be coming back. So it's just an exit. So it doesn't really fundamentally change the real problem, which is we're looking at oil prices going higher and higher every day. But we have heard from some Iranian government officials in the last few hours, including a member of parliament, saying this is basically a violation of the ceasefire and they shouldn't play with fire.

3:39So there is an implicit threat there that they might target these ships. And we heard, we saw in that post by Donald Trump that he said we will respond to any fire coming from Iran forcefully. It's also a question of how many cargo ships are willing to take that risk, even though U.S. is telling them that they will escort them out. That doesn't mean they won't be targeted. And what happens if they are? So the number of ships, the volunteer to be escorted is also one that a question that should be will be answered in the coming hours will give us a picture of how effective this can be. And where are we with any kind of peace process?

4:22Donald Trump has been very down on any peace process in the last few days. He even went as far as saying he doesn't think he could ever do a deal or not at least in medium term early a deal with Iran. But then we've seen this zigzag of changing his positions constantly. Now in this post, for the first time in a few, maybe more than a week, he talks about the positive direction in the talks, which, again, this is coming just an hour before Brent Futures market opens. So we have seen this happen before, right before the open market. There's always a line there that there's hope for possibility of a deal.

5:02But clearly, United States is now stuck between a bad option of escalating again and a deal that Iran is offering that is not ideal at all and not very different from what they were offering before the war. So there are not that many good options before Mr. Trump to choose from. Clearly, the Iranians have also have an interest in ending this and possibly even coming to a grand bargain. But they're not going to offer something fundamentally different from what they offered before the war, only to prove the point that the war has not achieved its aims. And inside Iran, is the threat to the regime over now?

5:49I mean, and also we've still not seen the supreme leader in public, have we? We have not. And obviously the regime is committing atrocities every day. We just had another execution. This is 25th execution of protesters in the days since the war has started. This is the highest number of people who've been killed. But there is no imminent threat to the regime as we speak. And the regime is tightened its grip. It's even more brutal than before. And the war has maybe in some cases helped it entrench itself. As Barman was saying, opponents of the Iranian regime are coming under growing pressure. Human rights groups have accused the authorities of carrying out widespread arrests, torture and executions.

6:36With the help of sources inside Iran, the BBC has been able to speak with people who say they're living in fear. For their safety, we're not using their real names or voices. This report was compiled by Fergal Key. There's no escaping the simple fact. The regime has survived. Its physical and psychological presence is everywhere. From the giant posters of assassinated leaders to the watchful staring eyes of the intelligence services. On the streets, a kind of surface normality has returned. People are shopping, taking their children to the park. But for many, like this young couple, hope is giving way to despair.

7:17In order to protect their identities, the conversation between Diaco and Sana is spoken by actors. Things will change. It's already changed. Changed? It's fallen into the hands of the Revolutionary Guards. The country is a mess. At the beginning, I did not want the war to happen. Through the middle of the war, as long as they were targeting key figures, I was genuinely overjoyed with every one of their deaths. But the thing is, so many of their people are still standing. What I had imagined did not come true. Everything got worse and we are left with the Islamic Republic. I am gutted that they won the war.

7:57I consider the Islamic Republic my enemy.

8:03The regime is still killing its internal enemies. 21 political prisoners have been hanged since the war started. That's the highest number in such a short space of time in 30 years. Thousands of others are in detention with repeated, credible reports of torture. This was one of the arrested January protesters. Susan, not her real name, is a lawyer working for the detained and is confronted with a paradox. She wants peace but fears that an end to the conflict will free the regime to mount an ever more punishing crackdown. Before the war, harsh treatment was reserved for those who were lead protesters.

8:45those who had Molotov cocktails or those who were armed. But during the war, that harshness has intensified significantly. I want the war to end. Still, though, I think that if the war does end, the regime will probably take out its rage from this war on the prisoners. We're living on borrowed time. I genuinely don't think much about the future.

9:10The Islamic Republic gives all the appearance of confidence that it is winning in the face of American confusion about how to end the war. Armin is an independent journalist who is also fearful about what might happen next as the regime feels emboldened to persecute anyone it wants to call an enemy. I personally lie awake wondering what the future holds and that uncertainty brings with it a terrible anxiety. Before, we might be accused of a political offence but in the current wartime conditions, If we report on the war, we could be accused of espionage. Before, we were trying to understand how many people had been harmed or what impact the protests would ultimately have.

9:54But now it's different. Now we're focused on staying alive, ourselves and our families.

10:05There are continuing rituals for those killed by the state. Acts of remembrance, but also reminders of the cost of dissent. This is part of a mourning ceremony for a young man killed during anti-regime protests. Family and friends are crowded together, as close as they can get to a large framed photograph of the deceased, a man in his 30s. As the world wonders if talks to end the war will resume, the regime remains master of life and death.

10:40That was Virgil Keane. World Press Freedom Day has been marked with a melancholic tone as a new report finds that established journalism is being suffocated. The latest figures, compiled by Reporters Without Borders, suggest press freedom is at its lowest level in 25 years amid growing authoritarian pressure. John Williams is a former BBC editor who now heads the Rory Peck Trust, fighting to protect independent journalism. This year, for the first time, more than half of the world lives in a climate where press freedom is either difficult or very serious. If I tell you that 25 years ago, 20 % of the world had good press freedom and 20 % had bad.

11:23Today, only less than 1 % of the world live in a climate where press freedom is said to be good. The Middle East is particularly bad right now. Over the last two and a half years, we've seen more than 260 Palestinian journalists killed by Israel. And the danger there is that we're now seeing those same tactics being exported to Lebanon. Just two weeks ago, a journalist called Amal Khalil was killed in southern Lebanon. The other place, ironically, which is now critical, is the United States. For so long, the defender of journalism of last resort, in this year's survey, Reporters Without Borders saw it fall seven places to 64.

12:03And it just cannot be business as usual. Journalists are protected under international humanitarian law. They are classed as civilians and targeting them is a war crime. There are international criminal court arrest warrants out for those that the court says are responsible. We need to see those indictments acted upon. Because if we don't, journalists then have a target on their back wherever they are. And before we know it, every journalist will have a target on their back. And we won't be getting any truth because people won't be able to report the truth. John Williams from the Rory Pack Trust.

12:36Still to come in this podcast. This is about restricting access to reproductive health care. Another unnecessary hurdle. The U.S. Supreme Court is asked to restore access to abortion pills.

12:57I drive my bus in a busy city. That's why road safety is so important to me. I know that I must slow down and be extra careful when I make a wide turn. Buses need more room than cars. Everyone can help keep our roads safe. Next time you're driving, remember to give buses plenty of time and space to finish turning before driving ahead. Let's all plan to share the road safely. Learn how at www.sharetheroadsafely.gov. The crew of NASA's Artemis II mission have returned home safely after successfully completing their groundbreaking voyage around the moon. Splashdown confirmed. Humans are back in the business of going to the moon.

13:40But while the mission is over, the Artemis space program is just getting started. 13 Minutes, the BBC Space podcast, is looking back on their epic journey and discovering what the future holds for the Artemis space program. Just imagine what we as humans can do next. 13 Minutes presents Artemis II from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

14:12This is the Global News Podcast. Ahead of the presidential election in Colombia, four people have been shot dead in the city of Cucuta, near the border with Venezuela. The victims include the head of a neighbourhood council in the city and it comes after a bombing last weekend in the southwest of the country. So how political is this violence? I've been speaking to our Latin America specialist, Luis Fajardo. There have been four people killed in what authorities are suggesting could have been retaliation between crime groups. It is certainly a high number of people killed in a single incident.

14:48But what we have seen across Colombia in the last weeks is deterioration in the security condition. a deterioration, which is causing major incidents of violence across the country, and which is generating a lot of uncertainty as the country gets near to its scheduled presidential election on May the 31st. And is the violence linked to the election? Well, Colombia has had violence for such a long time that unfortunately, some observers realize that every four years when the elections are approaching, you typically see a surge in violence. This is because in many cases, violence is associated, besides the drug trafficking problems, to rebel groups, insurgent groups.

15:32And in many cases, both the rebels and other powerful illegal armed groups like criminal gangs want to, in a way, show their power with the incoming government, whichever it might be. And in that sense, it is not unusual just before elections to see an increase in armed actions as these armed groups try to show their power with the incoming government. And as you said there, this violence has been going on for years. Why have successive governments failed to kind of get a handle on this with these armed groups and also with the drug traffickers? A conservative point of view, particularly in recent years, would say that the Colombian state has done a lot to try to negotiate with many of these illegal armed groups.

16:17And they argue that the groups that are currently causing a lot of this violence are not so much interested in political issues, but are basically rent-seeking groups, profit-seeking groups in legal industries like drug trafficking or like illegal mining. And in that sense, they strongly criticize the strategy of the current government of leftist president Gustavo Petro, who have been trying to maintain negotiations with some of these groups, According to the conservative critique of this strategy, it would be, according to them, pointless to try to negotiate with these groups, which are mainly interested in profit rather than any political objective.

16:56While on the other side, you see the more left-wing argument, which says that, in fact, Colombia still needs to have some kind of political negotiation with many of these groups. Whoever is right, the fact is that the Colombian violence is continuing. It is being fed by continuous drug trafficking profits, which allow many of these groups of many of these illegal groups to continue fighting the government with a lot of resources. And it continues creating a lot of uncertainty and a lot of frustration with Colombians. Colombia this year is commemorating the 10th year of a peace treaty that was signed with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC.

17:40So 10 years ago, this conflict was supposed to come to an end. The sad reality is that it continues. Luis Fajardo. Security has been further tightened at Jewish schools, community centres and synagogues in Britain following stabbings in London last week. In March, ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity were set on fire. So how are members of the Jewish community feeling? Paddy O 'Connell went along to a synagogue in North London and spoke to several teenagers. Personally, I've never had anything anti-Semitic aimed directly at me. But at the moment, it's pretty scary with everything so close.

18:19But at school, everyone knows I'm Jewish and I don't receive anything negative coming towards me about that. I don't go to a Jewish school. I have one friend who's half Jewish, but everyone else is a different religion. And do you feel optimistic? You're looking forward to doing your GCSEs? Can we get over the problems that life presents? I think we probably can get over the problems, but the racism needs to somehow stop. I think it's definitely scary and I think it's now that I'm 16, as opposed to being younger, I'm now more aware of what's going on in the world and it's definitely scary. I think in terms of optimism, I feel like this stuff has always happened.

18:56It's happened since before I was born. It's probably happened before many of the people listening have been born. I go to a Jewish school, so there's loads of security at the gate and stuff. It's sort of a shame that there has to be such security there. Do you have any optimism? Yeah, obviously I do. I'd like to stay in London. I like the city. I love the city. You still love the city? Yeah, I do. I think it's great. I like the diversity of it, how there's so much to do, so many places to go. I agree, I think London's probably the best city in the world. I tell all my friends that. And even though this has happened, and you find it a bit scary?

19:29Yeah, I think it happens all over the world, and I think it's a shame that it happens all over the world, but it is just one of those things that I've been taught as a young Jewish person, that it just happens. I don't really feel isolated. I don't go to a Jewish school, so it's kind of, there's so many people that are really diverse, and I don't feel isolated really. Have any of your friends said sorry about what's happened? Has anyone sort of shaken you by the hand or said I've heard what's happened, I hope you're okay? A bit, but I don't think there's much talk about it at school for me. I know there could be for other people, but there is.

20:02What's the best thing about your life being 12? What's the thing you love doing? I'm quite creative and sporty, so I like playing hockey and drawing and stuff like that. I feel like thinking about the news all the time would just make me a bit depressed. I don't think it's one thing that people need to do, but just to be generally, everyone needs to be more educated on how if you see something happening that's wrong, how to stop it. I think one of the things that surprised me most is how sudden it's been. Three or four instances in the space of a few weeks, so that's kind of surprised me. I wouldn't be as obviously Jewish moving around, you know, I wouldn't wear my Star of David necklace if I was just walking around.

20:37I have lots of Jewish friends, but I don't go to Jewish school, so I have friends who are Muslim and Christian, you know, everything really. One of the things that's most important, especially that I see with my friends, is that if you're together and you talk to people of faith that are different to you, you can see that they're just like you, there's no real difference. And that separation is what kind of leads to this sort of anti-Semitism and racism. That was Paddy O 'Connell reporting. A manufacturer of the medication used in the majority of early abortions in the U.S. has asked the Supreme Court to allow postal deliveries of the pill a day after they were blocked by a lower court in New Orleans.

21:16Abortion is banned in many U.S. states, including Louisiana. Roshana Desai-Martin from Washington's Center for Reproductive Rights told us about the ruling. So before this decision, mifepristone was available in person at health centers or by mail or at a pharmacy after receiving care through telemedicine. Now people must pick up mifepristone in person at a health center. There's two things that I think are important to point out here. One is that this order is nationwide. It applies in every single state, even in states where abortion is protected, in their state law or even in their constitution.

21:56And countless people, like those who live in rural areas or people with disabilities or people who live far from clinics, will now have to fly or even drive to get access to mifepristone, which may mean they lose access to it altogether. And at a time where in this country now gas is nearing$5 a gallon, this is just another unnecessary hurdle. The health and safety and the science around mifepristone is very clear. It's been safely used in this country for more than 25 years. And leading medical experts agree that restricting telemedicine for mifepristone would have no safety benefit. So this is not about safety and health.

22:42This is about restricting access to reproductive health care. We get really caught up in what politicians think about this. And I want to focus for a moment on what the American people think about this. And they, in wide majorities, support access to abortion. And this ruling really goes against their views. That was Roshana Desai-Martin. Finally, the Met Gala in New York has become the grandest and possibly the most exclusive event in the global fashion calendar, attended by designers and A-list celebrities, with the red carpet arrivals on its famous staircase watched by people all over the world.

23:21The live feed of it on Vogue's website alone gets around a billion views.

23:32Vogue has a central role in organising the event with Anna Wintour as lead chair, and she has the last word on who can come in. But this year's guest list has been causing controversy and raising questions about the future of the event. Our reporter Stephanie Prentice told me more. So basically the Met Gala has gone from this fancy fundraising dinner in the 1940s for the museum's Costume Institute to one of the world's most high-profile red carpet events. It's also one of the most expensive. Tables cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and the gala raises tens of millions a year for the museum as well as huge attention for it and its guests on the world stage.