NPR News: 04-18-2026 2AM EDT
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What recent developments occurred in the Strait of Hormuz?
Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. Iran has reopened the Strait of Hormuz after the start of a 10-day truce between Israel and Iran-backed militants in Lebanon. But a U.S. naval blockade remains in place, as NPR's Scott Newman reports, that could prove overwhelming as commercial traffic picks up through the vital shipping channel.
The number of vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz waterway has dwindled from its pre-war average of 138 ships. Brian Clark, an expert in naval operations and electronic warfare at the Hudson Institute, says with so few vessels going through, the challenge for the Navy is manageable.
But if you get up to the normal traffic volume or anything close to it, it would be almost impossible to keep up with that traffic volume with the number of ships the Navy could maintain in that area.
Iran says it is opening the strait for commercial vessels, but the U.S. Navy yesterday expanded its quarantine to include all Iranian-tied vessels anywhere in the world. Scott Newman, NPR News, Washington.
How is the war affecting the economies of Iran and its neighbors?
A new report from the National Monetary Fund says the war between U.S. and Iran is hurting more than just the Iranian economy. M. Perzai Batraoui says countries such as Qatar and Iraq are also feeling the pinch.
Major airports from Doha to Dubai have seen traffic drop dramatically because of the war, affecting revenue across the Gulf. The International Monetary Fund says the country worst hit economically is Qatar, with a nearly 9% contraction to its economy this year due to a complete suspension of gas production. The IMF says Iran's economy will shrink 6% this year and that Iraq's will contract by nearly 7%. These figures are based on assumptions the current ceasefire holds and energy production resumes normal levels by June. Elsewhere in the region, the report says energy importers like Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Pakistan have had to spend more due to soaring oil and gas prices widening their fiscal deficits.
Aya Batrawi, NPR News, Dubai.
A truce took hold Friday between Israel and Lebanon.
What impact does the Israel-Lebanon truce have on regional stability?
Even though the militant group Hezbollah has not formally agreed to the deal, thousands of Lebanese civilians began returning to their homes in southern Lebanon on Friday. The 10-day agreement calls for the government of Lebanon to prevent Hezbollah and other armed groups from attacking Israel, but it says only Israel can respond to violence as an act of self-defense. The Supreme Court Friday allowed oil and gas companies accused of responsibility for land loss and environmental degradation in coastal Louisiana to move their lawsuits from state to federal court. It was a procedural ruling by the Hyde Court. It comes after a state jury ordered Chevron to pay about $740 million to clean up damage to the state's coastline.
It was one of several similar lawsuits. It was another strong week for Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 868 points. The NASDAQ up 365 points. The S&P 500 up 84 points.
What legal decisions are impacting oil and gas companies in Louisiana?
This is NPR News. Human Rights Watch estimates that at least 9,000 Salvadorans have been deported from the U.S. back to El Salvador since President Trump took office last year. And as NPR's Sergio Martinez Beltran reports, many face a grim future.
Lawyers, researchers, and humanitarian groups say many Salvadoran deportees are in prison upon their arrival. They can then be cut off from contacting families and attorneys. Many of them have no criminal record in the US or El Salvador. All of this is the result of an emergency power imposed four years ago by El Salvador president Nayib Bukele. The extraordinary move was only supposed to last 30 days, but Bukele keeps renewing it. Tens of thousands of people, some with serious criminal records and gang ties, have been arrested.
How has Wall Street reacted to recent economic events?
The crackdown has taken El Salvador from being the murder capital of the world to a country with a lower homicide rate than the US and with the highest incarceration rate in the world. Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News.
Costa Rica says it's received a second group of migrants deported from the U.S.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What recent developments occurred in the Strait of Hormuz?
0:01–1:02
2
How is the war affecting the economies of Iran and its neighbors?
1:02–2:00
3
What impact does the Israel-Lebanon truce have on regional stability?
2:00–2:57
4
What legal decisions are impacting oil and gas companies in Louisiana?
2:57–3:45
5
How has Wall Street reacted to recent economic events?
3:45–4:25
6
What are the consequences of U.S. deportation policies for Salvadoran migrants?
4:25–5:01