Iran takes control
** Iran has reasserted its control over the Strait of Hormuz, warning that foreign commercial and military vessels will be targeted, if they do not comply with regulations governing passage through the strategic waterway. The announcement on Saturday came after the United States signalled that President Donald Trump was close to a decision on a potential deal with Iran, but Tehran denied an agreement had been reached.
Calls off blockade
** President Donald Trump on Friday announced he was lifting the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports enacted last month. The move comes amid media reports and administration messaging that Washington and Tehran appear to be drawing closer to a deal that could lead to ending the conflict. Iranian officials have rejected that notion. TWZ cannot confirm either side’s assertions.
US disables ship
** U.S. Central Command (Centcom) announced on Saturday that it had prevented another vessel from docking at an Iranian port amid a U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. military “disabled” a ship flying under a Gambian flag on Friday after the vessel did not heed numerous warnings, according to a statement shared by Centcom on social media.
More attacks
** The United States has carried out strikes near Bandar Abbas, the second attack in less than a week on Iran’s strategically important port city, escalating tensions around the Strait of Hormuz despite a fragile ceasefire that has been in place between Washington and Tehran since April 8.
US Energy
** The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas has some advice for all trying to stop the Iran War: Get the Strait of Hormuz opened. Soonest. Otherwise, global oil supplies will get severely constrained, Lorie Logan told attendees at the Bank of Japan Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies Conference.
** Authorities in Washington state said the bodies of all nine employees who were missing after a chemical tank ruptured at a paper mill earlier this week have been recovered following a painstaking search over several days.
** The Surface Transportation Board accepted Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern’s revised merger application that was submitted on April 30, according to the agency. The application for the proposed merger is now up for consideration by the board.
** Competitive transmission line projects get planned and built more quickly in four major grid regions compared with similar projects built by incumbent utilities, according to analysis released Tuesday by the R Street Institute, a free market-oriented think tank. The faster construction was seen in the California Independent System Operator, ISO New England, Midcontinent Independent System Operator and Southwest Power Pool.