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What are the latest developments in U.S. foreign policy regarding the Strait of Hormuz?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. President Trump continues to press allies to join U.S. efforts to secure the Strait of Hormuz. That's the passage off the coast of Iran that helps transport oil throughout the world. But as NPR's Deepa Shivaram reports, so far, no other countries have publicly committed to helping.
Trump says, quote, numerous countries have told him they're on the way to help the U.S. police the Strait of Hormuz, but he didn't specify which countries. Despite the president insisting that U.S. attacks on Iran have been successful so far, the Strait still poses a concern.
Literally a single terrorist can put something in the water or shoot something or shoot a missile, a small missile, and it's fairly close range because it is a tight area. and which is one of the reasons they've always used that as a weapon. Iran's ability to threaten slow-moving oil tankers in the Strait has become a headache for the Trump administration.
Twenty percent of the world's oil supply relies on the passage, and prices have increased since the war began. Deepa Shivaram, NPR News, the White House. A line of powerful storms is moving across the eastern half of the U.S., potentially spawning tornadoes, and a major snowstorm hit the upper Midwest over the weekend.
NPR's Rebecca Herscher reports the severe weather is drawing attention to the federal government's hobbled emergency agency. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is supposed to help respond to weather disasters, including assisting with search and rescue operations and debris removal.
But the agency is struggling to get disaster assistance money out the door, with millions of dollars in promised disaster funding delayed. That includes large grants that local governments rely on to pay emergency officials and local first responders. And FEMA has lost thousands of workers since the Trump administration began. including nearly 500 in January alone.
FEMA did not respond to questions about its readiness to respond to the latest storms. Rebecca Herscher, NPR News. An Afghan man who served alongside U.S. forces has died in ICE custody. NPR's Quill Lawrence reports he was in the U.S. legally with a pending asylum claim. Mohammad Nazir Pakhtiwal served alongside American special forces in Afghanistan, according to documents seen by NPR.
He helped U.S. troops for over a decade. In 2021, Pakhtiwal fled Afghanistan with his family because the Taliban were threatening to kill Afghans who had collaborated with the U.S. Since then, Pakthiwal had been living in Texas with his wife and six children.
A family statement says last Friday he was taking his kids to school when federal agents in unmarked cars surrounded Pakthiwal and drove him away. He complained of breathing problems and was given medical attention, according to a statement from ICE, but the next morning he was pronounced dead in a Dallas hospital. ICE says the cause of death is under investigation. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.
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