00:01The India-flagged tanker Green Asha docks at Mumbai Thursday,
00:05carrying much-needed liquefied petroleum gas from the Middle East.
00:09It's one of just a small number of ships to have cleared the critical Strait of Hormuz
00:13since an Iranian blockade that started with the latest war in the Middle East.
00:18Before the war, an average of 140 ships would pass through each day,
00:22with cargo including around a fifth of the world's oil supply.
00:26Now, marine traffic monitors show the strait is deserted.
00:29Even with a U.S.-Iran ceasefire that should have seen the passage open again,
00:34ships are still avoiding the waterway.
00:36With the ceasefire only two weeks long and conditional, the risk is still high.
00:41And the Financial Times reports Iran plans to charge tolls payable in cryptocurrency.
00:47U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iran against charging fees,
00:51but Iran's state TV suggests it plans to keep its control over the strait.
00:58We will definitely seek compensation for all the damage inflicted,
01:02and blood money for the martyrs, and for the wounded of this war.
01:05We will certainly bring the management of the Strait of Hormuz to a new level.
01:10Trump says this is not the agreement the U.S. and Iran have.
01:13But it's not the only part of the deal not fully in place.
01:18The truce was also supposed to cover the entire region, where fighting has spread.
01:23But U.S. ally Israel has kept up deadly strikes on neighboring Lebanon,
01:28killing more than 300 people in Beirut on Wednesday.
01:31Israel says those attacks are to hit Iranian proxy Hezbollah,
01:35which is also striking back at Israel.
01:37There is a chance of peace on this front of the war.
01:41Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his cabinet started negotiations with Lebanon,
01:46with the following goals.
01:50First, the disarmament of Hezbollah,
01:53and second, a historic sustainable peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon.
01:59For now, attention is on mediator Pakistan,
02:02where the U.S. and Iran are set to hold talks.
02:05The stakes are high.
02:07And with Iran expected to push for a peace plan that gives it control of the Strait of Hormuz,
02:12U.S. withdrawal from the Middle East, and compensation,
02:15the talks promise to be tough.
02:17Hank Shoo and John Van Trieste for Taiwan Plus.
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