00:00Well, the U.S. says that no Iranian ships have passed its blockade of that key sea passage,
00:07the Strait of Hormuz, in the last 24 hours.
00:09The blockade came into effect yesterday afternoon after peace talks with Iran ended without agreement at the weekend.
00:16Frank Gardner reports.
00:18So what U.S. did is make a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.
00:23And any ship that come, import and go for export, U.S. will fire on that.
00:31Poised offshore, at a safe distance from Iran's coastline, U.S. Navy warships like this are enforcing America's blockade of
00:39Iran's ports,
00:40hoping to pressure Iran to meet Washington's demands by choking off its sea trade.
00:46The U.S. says it's turned around at least six vessels due to their links with Iran.
00:54You see, this is the traffic for all of the ships going from the Strait of Hormuz.
01:01All right here, all right here.
01:03Nobody is right in this area because this is the fight zone.
01:08This map shows tankers in red, general cargo in green.
01:11As you can see, most are going nowhere.
01:15During the first 24 hours, says U.S. Central Command, no ships have made it past the U.S. blockade.
01:21And six merchant vessels complied with direction from U.S. forces.
01:26China and Russia's foreign ministers have been meeting today to discuss the Iran crisis.
01:30They're both allies of the Islamic Republic.
01:33Yes, China and Russia, Russia and China, foreign ministry ministers, are talking to each other to see the strategy ahead
01:45with the Iran war or crisis, you can say.
01:49China has condemned the U.S. blockade.
01:55This will only aggravate confrontation, escalate tension, undermine the already fragile ceasefire and further jeopardize safe passage through the Strait
02:03of Hormuz.
02:03It is a dangerous and irresponsible move.
02:06It was said to U.S., yes.
02:09This man, foreign minister of China, said it is an unmatured and irresponsible danger move from U.S. to block
02:19the Strait of Hormuz.
02:22China has warships like these in the region.
02:25It's a major customer for Iran's oil and it's unlikely to put up for long with this U.S. imposed
02:31blockade.
02:32Yes, this is what happened.
02:33At what point does China then go, OK, well, we can now board some American flagships somewhere else in the
02:38world?
02:38He is the former Royal Navy officer, Commander Tom Sarpay.
02:43So the risk of escalation is there.
02:46The risk of miscalculation is very high.
02:48Very, very much.
02:49And I think if there's a Chinese warship sitting off that tanker, I can't envisage a situation where you would
02:56board it.
02:57So then your blockades fail.
02:59Very big.
03:00So for now, ships carrying oil and gas from the Gulf are still largely stuck.
03:05Only a trickle are getting out into the ocean.
03:08Only when that situation is resolved, could the U.S. blockade be judged a success.
03:15This is what is happening, OK?
03:17This is Strait of Hormuz and everything is a mess right now.
03:23Partner, BBC News.
03:25All right.
03:26Well, despite the blockade, Mr. Trump has told the New York Post that talks with Iran could restart in the
03:32next two days.
03:33What?
03:33Sarah Smith is at the White House for us and talks with Iran, Sarah.
03:38They failed at the weekend.
03:39So why the optimism they could start again and so soon?
03:42This is bad.
03:43Why they have to start a talk again?
03:46Isn't that they negotiated and the result was they are going to make a nuclear weapon at 10 points, 15
03:53points, whatever.
03:56Say.
03:57Well, very good question.
03:59Donald Trump told a reporter that they could start again in a couple of days.
04:02That reporter was in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad and President Trump told him to stay there because that's where
04:09the talks took place at the weekend and he says that's where they could start again.
04:12But why would they be any more likely?
04:14Well, Donald Trump said yesterday that Iran very badly wants to make a deal.
04:19And of course, the U.S. blockade on the Strait of Hormuz is designed to try and pressure Iran into
04:24agreeing to an American deal.
04:26This is a big one.
04:28This is a big one.
04:30President Trump said a reporter to stay on Islamabad, Pakistan, so the next talks on the weekend he could attend
04:40it.
04:41This is all intentional.
04:43The same three sticking points remain that meant that the talks could not be resolved at the weekend.
04:48They are the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the fate of Iran's nuclear program, which America wants it to
04:54abandon and hand over all of the enriched uranium stockpile that it has.
04:59And then there's the issue of Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
05:03Iran says that those must cease and that was part of the deal that led it to agree to the
05:07two-week ceasefire.
05:08America says it's got nothing to do with that deal.
05:11But on that, there was a meeting here in Washington today between representatives.
05:15You see, these are all representatives, the big names, big peoples in America.
05:21U.S., Israel and Mexico, Canada.
05:25Which flag is this?
05:27...of Israel and Lebanon.
05:29And that's the first time those countries have met and face-to-face...
05:32U.S., Israel or this is Lebanon.
05:35...talks in decades.
05:37Now they came out of it reasonably positive, the Israeli ambassador said,
05:41that both countries had agreed they wanted to free Lebanon of the influence of Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants.
05:48And they did agree to meet again and contain further...
05:51This is what they're doing.
05:53They're doing a meeting right there to make a new strategy with the Iran crisis.
06:00...talks.
06:00But throughout the day, Israel continued attacking Lebanon and there was no agreement for any kind of ceasefire there.
06:08So those two countries appear to still be pretty far apart.
06:12And there's no clear sign as to what could bring Iran and the United States any closer together if they
06:17are to meet for talks again.
06:18This is a big one.
06:19This is a big one.
06:21Damn, guys.
06:22Subscribe.
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