Iran says it has closed Strait of Hormuz again

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He's won the prestigious Ballon d'Or award five times.

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And according to the blue.

He's the first one.

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service.

Hello and welcome to NewsHour Live from the BBC World Service in London. I'm Rebecca Kesby. Do not approach the Strait of Hormuz or your security will be jeopardized. That's the message from the Iranian Navy today saying that Iran has closed the strait again following repeated Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.

So first of all, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me. I have been watching the straits for the nest last sixty days or so. So um I I agree with everybody. I think that's that's the point.

Okay, well that's good.

Uh it's very important to agree with everybody in life. Uh I think CENTCOM is correct. There have been ships through today. Uh Correct. Uh CENCCOM is the central command by the US. Uh early as of early this morning we've seen ships go through and this afternoon in the southern quarter which is next to Oman, the northern quarter next to to Iran. Some of them dark, some of them not.

Right.

However, this is the however, the the quantity was not as expected. couple of days ago if you w if you will, uh people thought there was be flowing and everybody would be kind of, you know, starting their engines. We'll see. Again, a return to the one hundred thirty or so vessels transiting the the straits pre war. It is Saturday, which is probably three or four days after the MOU was signed, right? We're still at about

I mean, you mentioned the word dark there, um, and I wonder if you could explain that,'cause I know that some ships have been turning off their tracking devices to make them harder to detect. Um, why would they do that? And does it make it harder to get an accurate picture of what's going on?

Yeah, first of all they're turning off everything, not just their trackers. They're turn turning off their radars and they're turning off turning off their sat phones, they're turning off every single thing that emits anything, and that is to make Iran make it harder for Iran to detect their passage.

Iranians. So I mean that's the question, isn't it? Because there can can be confusion over whether or not it's open, but the real issue is how safe it is for shipping companies to start going through

Absolutely. People have no certainty I think and that statement by the PGSA, the Persian Gulf Straits Authority, which was just built a month or two ago by law in the Iranian parliament. I think that's the most worrying thing. If you ask me, take a step back, put aside the details, open or closed right now. Our biggest worry is that this would be a card that Iran will

Paul.

Uh regarding anything. Well w you don't accept our terms, boom, closed, you know? Okay. Uh and it's not just about Israel and Lebanon. I think it's about anything they would like. It's a big card in the negotiation, right?

And it could happen again. Ami, thank you so much. Good to speak to you. That's Ami Daniel there, CEO of the shipping analytics company Windward. Well during the negotiations ahead of the US Iran Memorandum of Understanding signed this week.

So far it's been welcome by people on the streets and by the media circles and also journalists and analysts in Tehran as a success for Tehran. And more importantly, it was a quite a difficult thing to sell to the public. especially after the assassination of the Iran Supreme Leader, negotiating with the with the United States was a red line for authorities, but seems that They are actually selling it as a success to the public and public are welcoming it.

Right, I mean there's been so few details about exactly what's in this deal. Are are there any parts of it that are being picked out and pointed to by the authorities in Tehran? What do they understand is in in the deal?

The recognition of Iran's missile program, which uh seems that it was a red line for Trump administration in previous negotiations. It seems that no longer they are trying to uh say that there should be no missiles, no enrichment at all. And now Iranian authorities are saying that they have recognised our rights for enrichment, though it's the low level of enrichment, but it's been recognized by Trump administration and to say this is sold to the public as a great success.

And in terms of how ordinary people feel about it, there must be some disquiet about what's happening in southern Lebanon. That was one of the red lines for the regime in Tehran that they wanted a ceasefire in southern Lebanon. It we understand that's not really holding at the moment.

Yes, actually no majority of the people here on the streets are happy about the deal, but ordinary people on the streets are skeptical about how it's going to hold or it's going to last how long because They say basically Trump is a whimsical person and BB Netanyahu is a person that who wants to do to devastate the deal because basically it's not in his favour. But If we take a look at the markets in Iran, markets show that uh the Iranian society, Iranian business, Iranian economy has

Well.

twelve percent every week and Iran's currency, which had depreciated thirty, forty percent before the war started, has started regaining its value in the past two or three weeks. Though uh currently the economic situation is not very good because the rampant inflation which has started from January is still having its effect on the lives of ordinary people.

Yeah.

So is the thinking then that this deal will hold no matter what happens in southern Lebanon, or is there a fear that it will fall apart and then what?

When you're talking to journalists or experts, they say that it's going to hold because Iran has a new leverage and that's the Strait of Hormuz and this is a real bargaining chip and a a card that Iran can play anytime.

Is it possible to know how Mr Trump is viewed in Tehran at the moment by the leadership?

If you talk to you know senior Iranian politicians, they do not take him very seriously now because they had his threats and they he did not make good on his threats. a couple of times. The positions that Iranian authorities are taking these days, I think that they are more hard line than the a couple of months ago. And they believe that they can win against him.

Omit Khazani there reporter for the LA Times speaking to us from Tehran. Well for a sense of the mood in Lebanon my colleague Paul Henley's been speaking to Mona Abu Zayd. who's the director of Najder Hospital in Nabatir, that's in the south of Lebanon. The hospital is located inside what the Israelis call the evacuation zone, and this interview was recorded on Friday evening.

And it was a very difficult day. There were many, many struggles around us, and all the villages of Nobati, city, Abush, Kafar Roman, Dari Zohrani. From one o'clock this morning until now we received like twenty uh martyrs and uh more than uh twenty seven injuries. Between this we have many children, the family, two family they uh arise from the uh register.

What kind of injuries are you seeing?

Many ranges. We have polytrauma, shrapnel, wound and complex fracture.

Tell us about the difficulties of working under these circumstances when bombing is ongoing.

Already our our staff is exhausted. They are working under uh immense uh psychological stress. They are uh worried about the safety of their own family uh while trying to save others. We have even had to transfer critical units, like our third floor ICU, down to the emergency department because our upper floors suffered the structural damage. and sheltered class from nearby strikers.

Do you have enough medical supplies? Do you need help from the international community, for instance?

We are facing severe shortages as the influx of casualties drain our medical supplies, medication and fuel. However, in coordination with the Lebanese Ministry of Medicine and Frontières, Red Cross, We are working to secure this essential. Despite the condition or the intense condition, our team of doctors and nurses remain resilient, working. around the the clock to save lives.

Tell me why you personally decided to stay in what has been declared by the Israelis an evacuation zone.

Well.

Why I stay because our hospital is the first hospital in South Lebanon and uh we need to stay beside our committee, our people.

Are you in danger?

We don't know because uh we are uh supposed uh to be uh protected by international law, all the uh hospitals and uh paramedics and the rescue uh medical. We don't know. if we will stay safe or not because or the pump or the distracts around the hospital.

Mona Abu Zaid, the director of a hospital in Nabatia, speaking to us on Friday evening. Uh President Trump has been uh Posting on social media he's threatening US tolls on the Strait of Hormuz if the Iran deal is not completed that in the past. minutes um we'll update you if anything else happens on this story.

This is Rebecca Kesby with NewsHour live from the BBC. Next we're heading to Cuba, which is continuing to struggle after the effects of the three months or so fuel blockade imposed by the Trump administration. Meanwhile, the US State Department has criticized the Cuban government's proposed economic reforms as superficial smoke signals. This week the Communist government in Havana said it wanted to open up

This is something that I've been advocating for many years with the Cuban government the opening of the economy of profound economic reforms that includes the Cuban diaspora. Which in my personal opinion is Cuba's current biggest asset. We have no oil, we have no sugar production. The Cuba's biggest asset right now it's it's massive diaspora, over two million Cubans that We not only will bring um the capital, we'll bring know how experiences and our desire to invest in our homeland.

Well that's right. I mean do you trust the government though to keep to its word and let businesses like yours operate more freely or freely and allow you to make a difference?

a precedent there not only what Kataput does, but there's a resilient private sector that has taken over the Cuban economy for the past two, three years. They are the ones that are holding the Cuban economy on their shoulders. They're the one importing over a billion dollars worth of food and beverages from the United States. They're the one that has all the uh grocery stores. They're the one that are doing logistics and

And what do you make of the State Department getting involved, calling it superficial smoke signals, being pretty disparaging about it? And of course the United States are behind that blockade, which is part of the reason so many Cubans are suffering at the moment.

The State Department it's demanding more broader economic reform. I'm focused and some of us are focused off the fact that It's a huge step for the Cuban government to recognize us, the Cuban diaspora, especially the one living in the United States. and has invited us to come back and invest in Cuba even though uh we're not allowed to in certain sectors because of the US economic embargo uh on Cuba. But I personally welcome the opportunity to return, if I can.

And that was Hugo Cancio, the Cuban-American businessman in Miami, pondering the new reforms from the government in Havana.

The Signal Awards recognize the podcasts that define culture, and being honored by the Signal Awards sets your production team apart. With recognition from the industry's top experts, and access proof that your work is a standard bearer for podcasting worldwide. By entering, your work is heard by the Signal Awards Judging Academy, an invitation only.

He's widely recognized as one of the greatest footballers in history.

He's won the prestigious Ballon d'Or award five times.

The all time leading goalscorer in professional football.

And according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he's the first application. millionaire status.

Guess who we're talking about yet?

Listen now wherever you

He's widely recognised as one of the greatest footballers in history.

He's won the prestigious Ballon d'Or award five times.

the all time leading goalscorer in professional football.

And according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he's the first out of the a footballer in history to achieve billionaire status.

Guess who we're talking about yet?

That's right. Billionaire is exploring the life and fortune of football icon Cristiano Ronaldo.

That's good bad palinak. World service.

Listen now, wherever you get you'll be.

The British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under increasing pressure to resign. His governing Labour Party won this week's by election convincingly, but the victor Andy Burnham has made no secret of his criticism of Starmer's leadership. or his own ambitions to replace him as Prime Minister. I've been speaking to George Parker, political editor of the Financial Times in London. So what are Keir Starmer's options now?

Well Keir Starmer has said publicly that he will fight for his job, but he's got a really agonizing weekend ahead of him. He's going to be talking to his cabinet colleagues, to his friends, to his family, trying to work out whether he really can fight to save his job.

So the big threat to Starmer is obviously coming from Andy Burnham. He has just won the Makerfield by election. It takes him back to Parliament. It means he would be able to challenge. He's got a lot of supporters in the party. But how will his fate fare?

Yeah, I think Andy Burnham feels like he's got unstoppable momentum off the back of that by election victory. But why did he win? He's relatable to the public. He's a great communicator. He projects optimism. But and it's a huge but, he will confront exactly the same political and economic constraints. that Keir Starmer's been labouring under for the last two years since he became Prime Minister. And it's one thing being the mayor of Greater Manchester

I mean you mentioned communication and that Andy Burnham's good at communication. Keir Starmer's a lawyer. He's always been criticised as being a little bit grey, lacking charisma, that sort of thing. But some of the things he's achieved possibly have been underplayed. Net migration was down, growth is looking slightly better than was predicted in recent months. Why is Keir Starmer so unpopular?

It's a really good question. I think anyone listening to this outside Britain will think, What on earth is going on? If Andy Burnham succeeds Keir Starmer, he will become Britain's seventh Prime Minister. Yn y 10 ymwyr since Brexit. I mean, this is supposed to be a stable Western democracy, and it's become totally chaotic.

That's George Parker, political editor of the Financial Times here in London.

You're listening to NewsHour live from the BBC. I'm Rebecca Kesby. Now since the full scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in twenty twenty two, Few countries have shown more solidarity with Ukraine than neighbouring Poland. In the days after the beginning of the war, millions of Ukrainians fled over the border for safety, and around a million still live in Poland. But a new row has soured relations. Back in twenty twenty three, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Well, you have to remember that the Ukrainian insurgent army or UPA UPA as it's pronounced, uh was not just a unit, it was a military formation that was associated with the organization of Ukrainian nationalists. And it fought a determined war against the Nazis, against the Soviets, and against Polish uh reoccupation of Ukrainian territory. So it was a movement dedicated to the creation of a united, sovereign Ukrainian independent state. And it fought all all commerce, it fought all predators.

Right. Right. So uh I mean it was a very confusing time a as you outlay there, but I mean f many Poles consider this unit as being responsible for what they call a a a genocide of around a hundred thousand ethnic Poles. in Ukraine during that time, during World War two. And I mean the Polish president has been very outspoken. He's calling this decision to rename this unit outrageous, incomprehensible, and deeply disappointing.

Well one has to ask the question fundamentally, Q Bono, who benefits? You know, today Ukraine and Poland are not rivals. They're not struggling over the same territory. They're, in fact, neighboring nations whose security and prosperity depends to a very significant degree on cooperation. Neither is going to benefit from treating the other as an adverse.

Right. I mean I suppose given everything you're saying though, it was a choice to rename this army unit. So why then use this this phrase to rename this army unit? It's unnecessary, isn't it? They could have called that unit anything, couldn't they?

Well uh of course, but you know, why should Ukrainians

Bye.

Obliged to name their military, which is doing all the heavy lifting for the rest of Europe, defending against Russian aggression.

But why why if they know it's gonna hurt the Polish who have taken in so many of their refugees and been a hub for the logistics?

seen that in my own you know, uh literally saw that in October and I'm gonna see it again in a few weeks when I'm traveling through the same territories. The point is not whether Poland today is helping Ukraine. It is. They are good neighbors. They're not arguing over a territory. They're arguing over a history and it's unfortunate they're arguing over this history because it is as I've already said it and you've agreed it's complicated. Uh I'm sorry that Poland or some Poles have taken offense.

Lubimir Luciuk, their professor of political geography at the Royal Military College of Canada. Well in a separate development this evening, President Zelensky has warned Ukrainians that Russia is planning an impending massive attack on the country. In his nightly address he told civilians to pay close attention to air raid warnings in the coming hours.

I'm not hiding, I'm not hiding. I'm watching. I'm looking to do

I'm at the Arcola Theatre in London, where they're rehearsing for the play Safe Haven, which begins soon, and I'm with some of the actors and the director and the writer of the play.

My name is Chris Bowers. I am a former British diplomat and a former journalist.

So Chris, just tell us why you wanted to write this play.

Because it's an amazing story. There was a potential genocide happening in the Kurdish mountains and a few brave British diplomats prevented a genocide.

So your story it's based around who?

It's based around one of the key British diplomats, Catherine Rowe is the heroine of the story. So they worked round the Foreign Office because she felt herself to be an outsider, she was very interested in human rights. And sadly she actually had to leave the Foreign Office at the end of the year because she'd gone too far. And the irony is that she'd gone too far actually in helping save hundreds of thousands of lives.

Fighting in the mountains is not the only way. We need to train doctors too.

Anyway, we'll stick to the story.

My name is Yad Deen. I am the producer and director of Safe Haven. I was born in Kurdistan. My parents and I fled when I was six or seven months. I have a very personal connection to this story, that journey that they made through the mountains. on foot, on horseback, to the border of Iran. So when Chris approached me to direct and produce a safe haven, I was immediately drawn to it.

I'm Boo Jackson, I play Catherine in Safe Haven.

sut rydych chi'n gweithio'r rôl, sut rydych chi'n gweithio'r rôl i'r rôl?

balancing act of her being a woman in the Foreign Office in nineteen ninety one who was able to make such profound change but also having to kind of play the game of navigating being a woman in that environment. She talks a lot about feeling like an outsider in an inside institution, so kind of playing with that. So yeah, it's been a lot of navigation of that.

Should my husband stop fighting, Saddam? And should I not be there for you?

No.

Oh I guess. And I'm playing Delaur Aladdin, a doctor from Kurdistan, also a real person, also someone who we met, he is and was, but in the world of the play as well, heavily involved in raising awareness of what was happening in Kurdistan. Also trying to rescue his own sister who was

You hear that? Don't move! It's the gas!

I'm Lisa Zara and I play Anne and Zaria. Anne is the wife

Oh

Clive, who works in the Foreign Office and was a diplomat as well.

Is there?

Ryf says she's Kurdish-Iranian in this, so she's from a different part to Najat, from the lead characters. in the story who's in the mountains and they come across one another. I'm Iranian Welsh and so I did know about safe haven but more so I knew about the suffering that the Kurdish community have gone through.

And how important is it today that people get to know about this story?

We have to keep telling these stories because they're not going away. Art is a way of being able to really tell true stories about these special, wonderful people.

Martin Venard Reporting US TV director James Burroughs has died at the age of eighty five. You may not be familiar with his name, but you will know the shows he was instrumental in creating. Cheers, Fraser. Friends and the Big Bang Theory, to name just a few. He was dubbed the Steven Spielberg of sitcoms, and although he never achieved the personal fame of his cinematic counterparts, TV insiders say his impact on the genre was huge, as entertainment critic Caroline Frost explains.

I think he I'm not going to say single handedly, but certainly was one of the pioneers of that glorious T V sitcom age that we now look back on so fondly. and was responsible for some of the biggest shows that we love to this day. So he um directed Taxi, Friends, Big Bang Theory. And um he of course was a co creator of that great Behemoth Cheers, which was a massive, massive show that really we don't really get these days in this very fragmented T V audience age.

I thought you were my best friend. This is my sister. My best friend and my sister. I cannot believe this. Look, we're not just messing around.

I love it.

Hurry.

My best friend.

And he's the last to know. We're so invested in the outcome of that discovery that they basically take us with them. James Burroughs always said that the sweet spot was when performance met Script. met character and I think you see that in somebody like Norm in Cheers.

I didn't do an arm.

I don't know.

I think that there is a a community that was built through these people. I mean James Burroughs in particular, he said he liked to create families and all of those shows that I've discussed Taxi, the Big Bang Theory, particularly friends, they are

And that was entertainment critic Caroline Frost there on the life and work of James Burrows, US TV director behind some of the classics, the Big Bang Theory, Cheers, Fraser Friends as well. Uh news of his death was announced on Friday. He was eighty five.

This is the BBC World Service with the story of how nations put aside differences to build a home among the stars.

Two minus thirty seven.

On november the second, two thousand was made.

It's a living, breathing organism.

The launch of the first expedition crew to the International Space Station.

A quarter of a century of unbroken in space.

It is really a testament to humans working together and doing really difficult things.

Uh

I'm Dr. Alice Bunn. People who made the ISS a reality, I want to explore how a near-fatal disaster to the programme. And why the ISS has started a revolution in space that could be a good one.

United in Space. To listen, search BBC the Documentary online or on the BBC World Service app.

Our top story this hour, Iran's military says it has closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to Israel's continuing attacks in Lebanon. Lebanon, but a US military statement says the strait is still open, and at least fifty five vessels have passed through today. Ami Daniel is the CEO of the shipping analytics company Windward and former captain in the Israeli Navy, so is it open or not?

Early as of early this morning we've seen ships go through and this afternoon. I would say my best guess is where the status quo, what we saw yesterday and the day before. We're definitely not in a breakthrough that everything is flowing, but we're not as a stand at a standstill, like I want to say.

On a headline, President Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials are returning awards given to them by Poland in an escalating row over historic grievances.

You're with NewsHour live from the BBC. I'm Rebecca Kesby. Now do you remember this story?

They were built to bring gas from Russia to Western Europe. Now investigators say a series of blasts on two underwater gas pipelines earlier this year were the result of serious sabotage.

That uh archive from twenty twenty two the Nord Stream undersea pipelines connecting Russia to northern Germany through the Baltic Sea were attacked in September that year. Three explosions were detonated, the concrete casing around the pipes completely destroyed. A couple of months later our Europe editor Katia Adler got exclusive access to the site of the explosions.

As we filmed, a Danish surveillance plane circled nearby. Also

Swedish warship, Danish warship and also Russian offshore boat.

Is that usual this kind of activity?

No it's not usual at all.

Not usual. The backdrop to this sabotage is Russia's war. The countries investigating here are keeping intelligence close to their chest. So that was ripped off the pipeline itself.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But one thing has become clear. From the pipeline debris. This explosion here in the Baltic Sea has heightened all of our awareness of the importance of undersea infrastructure but also the huge difficulty in protecting them.

Well almost as soon as it happened, Western European countries were pointing the finger of suspicion at Russia. After all, President Putin had threatened energy infrastructure in its war against Ukraine and its allies. But the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed that as an absurd suggestion.

Вы знаете, это достаточно предсказуемо.

It is all rather predictable and predictably stupid to voice views like this. I repeat again, predictably stupid and absurd. It's a big problem for us as firstly both Nord Stream two pipelines are filled with gas and all systems were ready to pump the gas through, and this gas is very expensive.

Well now a new book, The Nord Stream Conspiracy, suggests that the attacks were carried out by the Ukrainians. I've been speaking to the author, Bojan Panchevsky.

This was a massive event. It was a violent explosion in every conceivable sense of the word. It released the biggest ever recorded emission of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere caused by a human hand. It shook up the energy market in Europe at a time where prices were very high already because of the full scale invasion of Russia and Ukraine.

And then it kind of

sparked a great controversy around the issue of who did it, which remained kind of shredded in mystery for years after the event.

Well that's right, and uh you know, a lot of people were suspicious of a Kremlin, the CIA was one suspect. You now make the case that it was the Ukrainians that were behind the event. What's your evidence for that?

I'm not just making the case, I've actually met the people who did it and they explained to me how they did it and why the attack was conceived and carried out by a elite special forces unit inside the armed forces of Ukraine. They planned the attack around a month after Vladimir Putin launched the full scale invasion.

Right. I mean it was a very audacious attack and it looks as if it would have been quite difficult to carry this out. I I think in your book you reveal that actually it was a a female diving instructor that was instrumental to it being a success. Can you tell us that story?

Absolutely. So initially they realized they couldn't find deep sea divers within the special forces.

Storm.

And is it true that many of the people involved wanted to call it off at that point because it was too dangerous and she's the one that said no, let's carry on.

That's what they told me. At one point during the storm they had s something akin to vote on the boat because the skipper was worried about letting them dive in the weather. And the divers were not terribly keen as well. And that's when the woman stood up and said uh that she was willing to do it herself, which I think embarrassed perhaps the man into doing it after all.

But what does this and other attacks tell us about the shape and the tactics, the strategies in modern warfare, particularly in Europe?

Look, this attack was an absolute watershed moment because prior to this, infrastructure of that size, you know, mega infrastructure, critical infrastructure has never even been attempted before. And the Ukrainians proved that it's not only possible but it's kind of relatively easy if you find people with the right skill set who are willing to put their lives on the line for the mission. So the the whole thing costs of around two hundred fifty thousand dollars.

Yeah.

Prime Minister had been torched by people ultimately hired by the Russian Secret Services. And finally, this is also something very typical for the Ukrainian war of defence. against Russian aggression because they're facing a superior enemy, numerically superior in terms of resources, and they have to resort to asymmetric methods. to damage the war effort of the Russians. And a few days before this interview the Ukrainians destroyed the Russian refinery in Moscow.

But that does throw up moral questions too, doesn't it, for the Ukrainians and their allies.

The Ukrainians say this was critical infrastructure belonging to Russia and fueling cash to Russia and therefore it was a perfectly legitimate target. And they will say they're attacking infrastructure like that every day. So they will say, you know, it's fair game, but you know, in this new age of warfare it the ethical issue will become a moot point in today's warfare.

Oyan Panchewski, their Europe correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. His new book, The Nord Stream Conspiracy, is out now. That's it for this edition. Thanks very much for joining us wherever you are in the world.

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