Emily Fang
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Turkey said earlier this month Iran let one of its ships through.
And India's ambassador to Iran said Iran had let through a few Indian-associated ships.
and is in talks with Tehran to let through more.
And a Chinese sailor on a Panamanian flagship told NPR on Monday that their ship carrying industrial methanol sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on the same day.
They asked to stay unnamed because they were not authorized to speak to media.
The crew of Burmese and Chinese sailors will sail back to their home port in China.
Emily Fang, NPR News, Van, Turkey.
Here in Van, Turkey, thousands of ethnic Kurds have congregated to celebrate Nowruz.
Standing shoulder to shoulder, they hold hands and dance.
There is no official census of the Kurdish population in Turkey, but Van province, along Turkey's border with Iran, has historically been predominantly Kurdish.
Even when many expressions of Kurdish ethnic identity are frowned upon or outright forbidden in Turkey, some of the Kurds here waved the Kurdistan national flag today, an expression for their long-quashed ambition for an independent homeland.
And they chant Kurdish anthems associated with armed Kurdish resistance groups.
Emily Fang, NPR News, Van, Turkey.
Iran is blocking most ships from transiting the Strait of Hormuz, and that's caused the price of oil and gas to increase sharply this month.
Trump wrote on social media on Saturday that the U.S.
would, quote, hit and obliterate Iranian power plans if the strait was not open within 48 hours.
Iran's President Massoud Pazashkian wrote on social media site X shortly after that the strait was open for, quote, all except those who violate our soil.
A spokesperson for Iran's armed forces went even further, saying, quote, nothing can stop us from destroying all American infrastructure in the Middle East region should Trump make good on his threat and that the Strait of Hormuz would remain totally closed until Iran could rebuild its power plants if the U.S.
Emily Fang, NPR News, Van, Turkey.