A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
For a third night in a row, the U.S. and Iran attacked each other, fighting over who controls the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump said Monday the U.S. military will return to another act of war.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We're putting the blockade back, and it's a blockade not for anybody but Iran.
MARTÍNEZ: The military says that blockade will be going into effect later today.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
In a few minutes, we'll ask a former special envoy to Iran what steps the U.S. should take next, but first some context. The blockade President Trump announced comes just one month after Iran and the U.S. signed a memorandum of understanding meant to end the fighting. A key point of contention is the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's international affairs correspondent Jackie Northam has been following all this. Jackie, so another blockade and more fighting overnight over the strait.
JACKIE NORTHAM, BYLINE: Right, and this is largely about control over the Strait of Hormuz. It's considered an international waterway. But since the start of the crisis, Iran has claimed it's in control and has insisted ships get permission and follow approved routes, and it's been attacking ships if they don't. On Monday, President Trump pushed back, saying that going forward, the U.S. will be known as the guardian of the Hormuz Strait. And he's threatened to start charging 20% fees on all goods transiting through the waterway, even though his administration has said charging fees violates international law. Iran lashed out at this, saying under no circumstances will it allow the U.S. to interfere with the management of the strait.
MARTÍNEZ: So Iran and the U.S. signed an agreement last month that was, I thought, supposed to resolve all this. Why is this all happening?
NORTHAM: Yes. It was a memorandum of understanding, and you're right. It was meant to help end the fighting and, equally important, open the Strait of Hormuz. And this is particularly crucial for President Trump ahead of the midterm elections. One of the big complaints by the deal's numerous critics was that it was quickly cobbled together with the idea that, you know, the details would be worked out later on. The problem is that without details, the agreement lacks clarity. And therefore it's open to interpretation. And, you know, that's led to confusion and ultimately, the renewed fighting.
MARTÍNEZ: Could - so could - can you give us an example of that?
NORTHAM: Sure. Take Paragraph 5. It says Iran would make arrangements using, quote, "its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial" vehicles. That's pretty vague. And the Trump administration sees that as, OK, Iran will open the Strait of Hormuz and ships can pass freely. Iran views that paragraph as it decides which ships can pass. In other words, Iran is in control of the strait. Yeah. I spoke with Michael Singh. And he's a Mideast specialist and managing director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. And he says these types of documents are often left deliberately vague to allow both sides to claim victory. Here he is.
MICHAEL SINGH: Here, I think the wording, you know, hews much more to what Iran wanted to get out of that understanding because it seems to place responsibility for the straits in Iran's hands rather than reinforcing that this is an international waterway. And so this is a document which I think could have been negotiated better.
NORTHAM: And, A, Singh says if the agreement had been negotiated better, perhaps we wouldn't be seeing some of the instability we see now.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. So where does this leave things? I mean, is the strait open or is it closed?
NORTHAM: Well, it's unclear. You know, the number of ships trying to pass the strait yesterday was just reduced to a trickle. And Singh believes sometimes these things have to be worked out through a combination of both talking and fighting at the same time, which is what we're seeing now.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's international affairs correspondent Jackie Northam. Jackie, thanks.
NORTHAM: Thank you, A. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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