The Headlines
U.S. Attacks and Seizes Cargo Ship Near Iran, and a First Step Toward Tariff Refunds
20 Apr 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey, it's Ben Fruman, editor-in-chief of Wirecutter. We put together the ultimate moving guide, and I wanted to find out a few of our writers' favorite tips.
When you're first moving into your home, make sure that you change the batteries in your smoke detector.
Buy a mattress bag. You can carry a mattress more easily because the handles are built in, and it's going to protect your mattress from the truck and the street. Make sure you have towels on hand. You don't want to end up taking a shower and using a dirty sock to dry off. Yeah.
If you're getting ready to move, let Wirecutter help you make a plan at nytimes.com slash moving.
From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, April 20th. Here's what we're covering.
Motor Veseltoska. Motor Veseltoska. Vacate your engine room.
Off the coast of Iran yesterday, the U.S. Navy carried out what appeared to be its first attack on a ship trying to get around the American blockade, striking and seizing an Iranian cargo vessel.
The Pentagon posted a video of the incident along with a statement saying an American destroyer opened fire on the cargo ship's engine room, disabling the vessel after it ignored demands to stop sailing toward an Iranian port. Marines then dropped in from a helicopter to seize it.
Early this morning, Iran's military warned it would retaliate for the attack, which it called armed piracy, according to an Iranian media report. The strike capped off what had already been a chaotic weekend in the critical waterways around Iran. President Trump and Iran had both said that the Strait of Hormuz was open Friday.
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Chapter 2: What happened during the U.S. attack on the cargo ship near Iran?
Over the past year and a half, the U.S. has drastically upended its relationship with Europe. And The Times has been looking at how one State Department employee, just five years out of college, has been at the center of that, in particular, driving President Trump's culture war in those countries.
Sam Sampson is not at all your typical high-level federal employee. He's 27 years old, was a conservative activist, and in just a very short time has now risen to become a very important senior advisor at the State Department and really a messenger for President Trump across Europe.
Times correspondent Michael Scheer is part of a team who talked to more than two dozen American and European diplomats, lawmakers, and former officials to trace Sampson's efforts. Samson had a secret meeting with Nigel Farage in Britain last March to discuss abortion and censorship.
He was in France in May trying to argue that Marine Le Pen, a far-right leader convicted of embezzlement, had been unjustly persecuted. And he met with members of Germany's right-wing AFD party, which German intelligence has designated as a suspected extremist organization.
part of Samson's travels have been meeting with far-right groups in each of these countries to essentially say, what can we do to help you affect policies like free speech, migration, anti-woke, anti-diversity policies that these far-right groups have been pursuing for years?
But now, essentially, Samson is the one traveling around Europe saying, the United States government wants to help you with that. The European governments have reacted with alarm, mainly because they have themselves been fighting against some of these far-right parties to tamp down their influence throughout their countries. And so to have a senior U.S.
official traveling around the country, pledging his support, but more importantly, pledging the support of the United States to these groups has really been something that strikes fear into the hearts of many of the politicians that are in office right now across Europe.
In response to questions from The Times, Sam Sampson declined to be interviewed. In a statement, a State Department spokesman said that the administration is having what it called hard conversations with Europe and that the transatlantic relationship will be, quote, stronger because of it.
For the full profile of Sampson and the State Department's wider efforts in Europe, go to The Times app or NYTimes.com. Across the U.S., it's the time of year when students are deciding whether they want to say yes to grad school acceptance offers and whether or not they can afford to go.
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Chapter 3: How has Iran responded to the U.S. cargo ship seizure?
They even submitted video footage for the claims, showing a quote unquote bear rolling around in the backseat of a Rolls Royce. There's also footage of a bear opening the door of a Mercedes and rummaging around. A biologist was called up to examine the videos and determined that it was, quote, clearly a human in a bear suit. And the second, wait, you tried what, moment of the week?
Another man in California was just charged in a Lego theft scheme. The suspect is accused of buying over $30,000 worth of Lego kits from Target, then refilling the boxes with uncooked pasta, I assume so that they would sound the same if you shook them, and returning them for a refund.
In a post online, the Irvine Police Department really tried the pun-shaming technique, writing that if anyone else tries this kind of switcheroo, they'll be caught, calling it a postatively terrible plan. Really, though, there have been a surprising number of Lego thefts recently. Officials say the toys are targeted because they're small, untraceable, and in high demand.
Less than two weeks ago, a group of thieves was caught after driving off in trucks packed with a million dollars worth of Lego sets. Those are the headlines.
Today on The Daily. Through these papers, we can eavesdrop on the justices at the exact moment that they are abandoning time-tested norms of judicial procedure and backing themselves into a new way of doing business.
a Times investigation into the origins of the Supreme Court's so-called shadow docket. You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.
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