Dan Schwartzman

News when you want it with Bloomberg News Now, I'm Dan Schwartzman.

U.S.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth praised defense allies in Asia, singling out allies such as South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines, and hailed newly stable ties with China at an Asia security forum in Singapore.

Exit, though, did omit Taiwan in his address, with some interpreting it as a sign of a softer stance on China and a focus on, quote, constructive strategic stability in the U.S.-China relationship.

The U.S.

military stomped a merchant vessel, the Gambia-flagged cargo ship Lian Star, trying to break through its blockade of Iranian ports by firing a missile into its engine room.

The ship had ignored more than 20 warnings from U.S.

forces overnight as it tried to enter an Iranian port.

The vessel remained adrift in the Gulf of Oman, and U.S.

forces have not boarded it, said a U.S.

official with knowledge of the situation.

The U.S.

has now stopped six ships total, trying to breach the blockade.

Meanwhile, several Americans were hurt in a missile attack on a Kuwaiti air base.

Iranian ballistic missile strike on the airbase caused minor injuries to several Americans and seriously damaged two MQ-9 Reaper strike drones.

That's according to a person with direct knowledge of the attack.

Meanwhile, a White House meeting to discuss extending a ceasefire with Iran ended without conclusion, despite President Trump's earlier suggestion that an agreement was near.

A White House official said Trump will only make a deal that satisfies his red lines, including Iran ending its nuclear program and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Anthropic updated its warnings about secondary markets for its shares, cutting the number of unauthorized platforms by half after its initial notice caused panic among investors and pushback from the companies it named.

The four firms are Opendoor Partners, Unicorns Exchange, Pachamama, and Upmarket.