US seizes Iranian-flagged cargo ship
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janet Jalil, and in the early hours of Monday, the 20th of April, these are our main stories. President Trump says the US has seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that he claims was trying to get past an American naval blockade. Iranian state media says Iran has no plans currently to join senior US officials for another round of peace talks in Pakistan. A gunman in the U.S. state of Louisiana kills eight children aged from 1 to 14 years old. Also in this podcast, it's robots versus humans in Beijing. Robots are just really fun, so I wanted to bring my kids to experience it. Technology is developing so fast, I think robots will soon beat humans in many ways.
Iran's military has vowed to respond after the U.S. fired at and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman. President Trump said the American Navy had blown a hole in the ship's engine room. This was the moment of the confrontation.
Motor vessel Tosca.
Motor vessel Tosca. Vacate your engine room. Vacate your engine room. We're prepared to subject you to disabling fire.
This comes as a U.S. delegation is going to Pakistan again for talks with Iran, a week after negotiations in Islamabad broke up without any deal being reached. The White House says the vice president, J.D. Vance, will once again be leading the U.S. side. Mr Trump renewed his threat to destroy every power plant and bridge in Iran if it doesn't agree a deal. But Iranian state media says Iran is not currently planning to take part in the new talks as the blockade continues off the Strait of Hormuz. I got more on all this with our global affairs reporter, Ambarasa Netirajan, who first told me more about the ship that had been hit.
The U.S. is maintaining this naval blockade and they're not allowing any ship to do with Iran or any of the Iranian ports to pass through. And a short while ago, President Trump has just posted on his Truth Social platform about U.S. Marines having a full custody of a cargo ship. He says try to get through the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports. And according to him, the Iranian crew refused to listen. So our Navy ship stopped them right in the tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room. Then that again is a major escalation, especially just days before the talks or on the eve of the planned talks in Islamabad. So they are saying that until this blockade is removed. And also they are criticizing the statement made by President Trump earlier that about
targeting the Iranian infrastructure.
What prompted the US military to seize an Iranian-flagged cargo ship?
So they're not happy with the developments. And in that context only, Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shabazz Sharif, had a telephone conversation with the Iranian president a short while ago. It was a 45-minute conversation. So you can as well imagine the hectic diplomatic activity going behind the scenes to bring Iran to the negotiating table.
Yes, because for the second time, the U.S. delegation that is heading to Islamabad is being led by the U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, along with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Now, it had seemed that the initial round of negotiations, which only lasted a day, had ended and that was the end of it. But now we're seeing this attempt to resume. What do you think the U.S. is hoping to get out of this second round of talks?
Well, if you ask the Iranians, they get confused by the messages, conflicting messages coming out of White House, especially President Trump's messages on social media. Now, Pakistan is very keen to hold these negotiations and they have been conveying messages between the two sides for the past few days. So, Pakistan is playing a key role here, even if they can extend the ceasefire, because one set of ceasefire coming to an end on Wednesday, of course, with Lebanon, it is a different deadline. So, even if they cannot reach a final agreement or some sort of framework for an agreement, for the moment, they want to extend.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:49
2
What prompted the US military to seize an Iranian-flagged cargo ship?
3:49–6:02
3
What tragic event occurred in Louisiana involving a gunman?
6:02–8:39
4
What was Iran's response to the US blockade and the cargo ship seizure?
8:39–32:19
Speakers
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