destabilizing the region so how iran's top general has responded he said we don't want to close the strait of hormuz but if the hostility of enemies increases we will be able to do so also if our oil does not go through the strait other countries oil will certainly not cross the strait either. so let's have a look at the significance of the strait in some detail because while iran presents itself as a gatekeeper if you like there are a lot more players involved the strait of hormuz is the only sea route in and out of the gulf that tells you immediately why it is so important and if we zoom in down there and actually place a a ruler over the top of it using the tip of the united arab emirates as a starting point you'll see that in any direction it's certainly nothing more than one hundred kilometers before you hit land be at the iranian mainland there or one of these islands over here now in this case fifty six kilometers of water sounds like a decent amount of space but the actual shipping lanes are only three kilometers wide in each direction and it was in the first half of twenty eighteen in fact

destabilizing the region so how iran's top general has responded he said we don't want to close the strait of hormuz but if the hostility of enemies increases we will be able to do so also if our oil does not go through the strait other countries oil will certainly not cross the strait either. so let's have a look at the significance of the strait in some detail because while iran presents itself as a gatekeeper if you like there are a lot more players involved the strait of hormuz is the only sea route in and out of the gulf that tells you immediately why it is so important and if we zoom in down there and actually place a a ruler over the top of it using the tip of the united arab emirates as a starting point you'll see that in any direction it's certainly nothing more than one hundred kilometers before you hit land be at the iranian mainland there or one of these islands over here now in this case fifty six kilometers of water sounds like a decent amount of space but the actual shipping lanes are only three kilometers wide in each direction and it was in the first half of twenty eighteen in fact

continue to sell oil in the face of increasing pressure the same as ravi has more now from the strait of hormuz. when iranian leaders say that they have the responsibility of keeping the strait of hormuz secure then that's what they're talking about warships escorted by small speedboats with mounted machine guns patrolling the waters around iran southern coast in the distance dozens of transport and cargo ships visible at any point in time give a sense of how much traffic these waters see on a daily basis iranian leaders have said time and again that it is in their interest and everyone's interest to keep the strait of hormuz open to the free flow of ships that move goods and especially oil but the presence of battle ready boats like this are meant to send a message about who iran considers as being in charge of these waters this is as close as we can get to one of the runs warships the navy here takes the security of its vessels very seriously especially around the waters of the strait of hormuz where boats like this one have the job of policing traffic but also looking out for american warshi

move iran has threatened to block the strait of hormuz the world's key oil autrey transporting more than a third of international crude. ok let's bring in kevin who's an author of several books on iran and international affairs good to speak to you we've heard this before haven't we from iran blocking the straits of hormuz they haven't followed through that in the past why should they be taken more seriously this time. well the short answer is because the u.s. is seriously escalating this unilateral economic warfare against iran jeopardizing the economic well being of iran and in iranian people putting iran against the wall and therefore one should naturally expect a stiffer reaction from iran which may come in the form of implementing their threats in the strait of hormuz which of which is of start educating portends to iran and the world economy as your not so the us is edging closer to war with iran using all kinds of lame excuses and let's not forget that the other signatories to do iran nuclear deal russia china and europe in particular have pledged to normalize their trade with ira

they get more important and the strait of hormuz is no exception . in the straits of hormuz has got a long crown there are many colonials who. try to control the strait and we iranians have always founts with them and kept it open. vosa straight. for us is critically significant important for his book a loss of exports important trade it is important for many our countries in their region even for many other countries far away but so using trade. off once you do you. are responsible to keep it secure. we are keeping. you know power to save. our critical interests trade and make the exact and appropriate decisions at the proper time you just mentioned your military capabilities and as far as i know they are in name it does not have any capital shifts its largest ships are corvettes and frigates and i want to ask you as a decorated general do you think that's enough to stand up to. twenty plus ships including aircraft carriers. straight and. power is not limited to this phrase. forces such as the messiah forces and other capabilities at the proper time

said that iran will continue to find buyers for its oil and use the straits of hormuz to transport it he warned that if the u.s. tries to stop her on that it should be prepared for the consequences the straits of hormuz a vital shipping route linking middle east oil producers to markets in asia europe north america and beyond it is in our interests are not it our white for national security interest to keep the persian gulf open to keep the strait of almost open we've done that in the past we will continue to do it in the future but the united states should know that when they enter the straight talk or march they have to talk to those who are protecting the straight talker much. and that is. watch. the james bases live for us now at the asia society in new york or no this is our it's certainly put iran's case very clearly at the front of that conversation how did it go down. well certainly that particular position on the straits of hormuz i think is interesting because he was responding to earlier comments that iran might. threaten to close the straits of hormuz his position is a som

one more question about that the last time there from a listener gars threaten to close the strait of hormuz president obama was in office and those tensions ultimately resulted in the signing of the now defunct j. c.p.o. a do you believe that negotiations are possible with the trump of ministration given the they approach that has taken. iran and other countries as well. really. more dork. international law. but experience is well known today i don't suppose. the world person is going to trust him more. we naturally like to would not trust him now let me ask you one more question of american decision this time regarding the iranian revolutionary guard designating organization as a terrorist organization this is the first such designation for an institution of a silver and state is that going to impact iran's relations with other countries in any way simply because this is part of your government. the pope along with the ira g c. is public revolutionary institution awaits. bright background. you know from the very beginning of the summit group lucian we were grappling with terrorist groups.

iran's foreign minister says keeping the strait of hormuz apeman is in the interests of iranian nationalsecurity jeffords a wreath was speaking in new york after the u.s. withdrew sanctions waivers to china india and other major oil customers of iran. all right so we can now speak to trita parsi who is an iran specialist and former president of the national iranian council thanks for joining us trita. i suppose the question of the first question is going to be he would say that wouldn't hundreds of hours jarrod jet reef is going to claim that the straits of whom is will stay at them because it benefits the rain is but it's always a point of potential tension isn't it that the americans it's certainly a threat that the iranians have issued before and in the past it was a bit easier to dismiss it because if they were to close it they would suffer themselves tremendously because it would harm their own oil exports but if we're now for the first time actually looking at a scenario in which iran may actually not be able to export it out of the persian gulf at all well then the cost of them do

iran's foreign minister says the strategy won't work he's refused to rule out closing off the strait of hormuz i keep passageway used to transport oil. we will continue to find boilers or. we will continue to use the strait of hormuz as a safe transit passage for the civil war that is our intention and that is what we believe will happen but if the united states takes the crazy measure of trying to prevent us from doing that then it should be prepared for the consequence. consequences that could include a major disruption to supply chains and a further surge in prices in the already volatile markets. many countries stand to lose in that scenario but for iran the impact of a further escalation could be devastating the country's economy has a ready been battered by the sanctions re-imposed last november after the us pulled out of a landmark nuclear deal for many ordinary people it's been a painful experience. not just the night before the sanctions was hard for maybe half of the people but after the sanctions approximately eighty percent of the population is having a hard time maybe bad. nearly

like saudi arabia must ship their oil a third of the world's seaborne oil passes through the strait of hormuz making it the world's most important oil artery some eighteen million barrels of crude oil per day would stop flowing from the middle east were iran to actually close the strait that according to industry analysts well let's talk more about the latest sanctions pressure coming out of washington d.c. i'm joined now by helena humphrey in washington and our financial correspondent jose luis de haro in new york. let's start with you why is the trumpet ministration choosing now to push even harder on these sanctions. stephen this is gloves off from the trumpet administration it's been upping the ante against iran in recent weeks with the aim of bringing the country back to the negotiating table on the twenty fifteen new deal and is prepared to choke the economy to do so remember that iran has fifty billion u.s. dollars every year from its oil and certainly washington d.c. has been in action a list of measures in recent weeks two years a two weeks ago it names the iranian revolutionary guar

and there again at threatening to block the strait of hormuz the world's lifeline of all from all gulf countries including saudi arabia kuwait and iraq around a million barrels of iranian oil is shipped through the strait of hormuz every day particularly to china india south korea japan and turkey those cells are in jeopardy as the u.s. warns it will no longer give sanction waivers to those countries the u.s. reimpose sanctions on iranian also as last year after donald trump pulled out of the iran nuclear deal e.q. says the iranians are being state sponsors of terrorism and destabilizing the middle east roselyn jordan has the details from washington. the u.s. says its efforts to impose a worldwide embargo on iranian oil is already working in the last eleven months the trumpet ministration says iran has lost about ten billion dollars in oil revenue all this says washington to punish the han for what it calls the government's quote aligned ways the top administration and our allies are determined to sustain and expand the maximum economic pressure campaign against iran to end the regimes

would allow the closing of the straits of hormuz. itary assets in the region it would be problematic. that's part of the reason that oil prices are reacting the way they are that is further threat to supply, obviously. the straits of hormuz are too strategy eenlicily important for the u.s. to allow that to close. that is just further upward pressure on the oil prices >> just to bring it back to the next flash point, opec meeting in june. obviously, it's a big one. are you expecting to hear some signals from the big producers, saudi uae, and obviously russia as well, that they would be looking to support the u.s. in this endeavor this time around >> i actually think that we'll hear from the opec producers before the june meeting. i think this is something that they will address in the relatively near term >> all right sir, i'm going to leave it there. thank you very much for taking the time to chat with us that was jason, senior oil and gas analyst from jeffries. sticking to the theme, north korean state media has confirmed the country

disruptions now if something like the revolutionary guard in iran decides to try and shut down the strait of hormuz then we've got a big problem because you've got so much oil coming out of saudi arabia and others that rely on the strait of hormuz to access global markets fracking for a second because i can ask on the wild card in the last twenty years as you point out fracking in america has made america quote unquote energy independent and we've become a loyal energy powerhouse but reuters recently reported that the fracking operations a failed earn more than they spent we've been reporting on this for a long time now many years of probably talking about in the past now fracking is an industry where it costs more to frack than the profits you make getting out they toss more bt is and then b t's out their lifespan of these days failed as short as much shorter than the bonds is a sign as an for sure so that fracking thing is like a flash in the past and it's not going to last so and that's looks like the all the major fracking companies are bound stocks are down the bonds are down that industry is

disruptions now if something like the revolutionary guard in iran decides to try and shut down the strait of hormuz then we've got a big problem because you've got so much oil coming out of saudi arabia and others that rely on the strait of hormuz to access global markets have fracking for a second because i can ask on the wild card in the last twenty years as you point out fracking in america has made america quote unquote energy independent we've become a loyal energy powerhouse but reuters recently reported that the fracking operations a failed earn more than they spent we've been reporting on this for a long time now many years of probably talking about in the past now fracking is an industry where it costs more to frack than the profits you make getting out they toss more bt is and then b t's out the lifespan of these days fails as short as much shorter than the bonds is assigned as an for sure so that fracking thing is like a flash in the pan it's not going to last so and this looks like the all the major fracking companies are down stocks are down the bonds are down that industry is about at

disruptions now if something like the revolutionary guard in iran decides to try and shut down the strait of hormuz then we've got a big problem because you've got so much oil coming out of saudi arabia and others that rely on the strait of hormuz to access global markets fracking for a second because i can ask on the wild card in the last twenty years as you point out fracking in america has made america quote unquote energy independent and we've become a loyal energy powerhouse but reuters recently reported that the fracking operations a failed earn more than they spent we've been reporting on this for a long time now many years of probably talking about in the past now fracking is an industry where it costs more to frac than the profits you make getting out they toss more bt is and then b t's out there lifespan of these days fails as short as much shorter than the bonds is a sinus and for sure so that fracking thing is like a flash in the past and it's not going to last so and that's looks like the all the major fracking companies are down stocks are down the bonds are down that industry is abou

iran's foreign minister says keeping the strait of hormuz open is in the interests of a rainy a national security german serif has been speaking in new york after the u.s. withdrew sanctions waivers for china india and iran's other major oil customers our diplomatic editor james bays has for the iranian foreign minister himself brought up the case of nasir the dar iraq cliff a british national being held in tehran compared it to an iranian being held in australia who's given birth to a baby while in custody and then came forward with what he said was a new offer in exchange of prisoners he said he had full thora to make this offer nobody talks about this lady in australia. who gave birth to a child in prison whose child is growing up outside prison with his mother mother in prison. so what can i do as reporter minister. i put this offer on the table publicly now exchanged in the foreign minister was asked about recent threats that iran might close the straits of hormuz he said that that was not iran's position he said that the free flow of trade was a lifeline for iran but he said if tha

them to zero the iranians say that will never happen and they're again threatening to block the strait of hormuz the world's lifeline of all from old gulf countries including saudi arabia kuwait and iraq around a million barrels of iranian oil is shipped through the strait of hormuz every day particularly to china india south korea japan and turkey those cells are in jeopardy as the u.s. warns it will no longer give sanction waivers to those countries the u.s. re-impose sanctions on iranian all cells last year after donald trump pulled out of the iran nuclear deal he says the iranians are being state sponsors of terrorism and destabilizing the middle east roselyn jordan has the details from washington. the u.s. says its efforts to impose a worldwide embargo on iranian oil is already working in the last eleven months the trumpet ministration says iran has lost about ten billion dollars in oil revenue all this as washington to punish the han for what it calls the government's quote maligned ways the trumpet ministration and our allies are determined to sustain and expand the maximum economic press

iran can and will continue to sell oil in the face of increasing pressure yes more from the strait of hormuz. when iranian leaders say that they have the responsibility of keeping the strait of hormuz secure then that's what they're talking about warships escorted by small speedboats with mounted machine guns patrolling the waters around iran southern coast in the distance dozens of transport and cargo ships visible at any point in time give a sense of how much traffic these waters see on a daily basis iranian leaders have said time and again that it is in their interest and everyone's interest to keep the strait of hormuz open to the free flow of ships that move goods and especially oil but the presence of battle ready boats like this are meant to send a message about who iran considers as being in charge of these waters this is as close as we can get to one of the runs warships the navy here takes the security of its vessels very seriously especially around the waters of the strait of hormuz where boats like this one have the job of policing traffic but all. looking out for american warshi

iran can and will continue to sell oil in the face of increasing pressure so much more from the strait of hormuz. when iranian leaders say that they have the responsibility of keeping the strait of hormuz secure then that's what they're talking about warships escorted by small speedboats with mounted machine guns patrolling the waters around iran southern coast in the distance dozens of transport and cargo ships visible at any point in time give a sense of how much traffic these waters see on a daily basis iranian leaders have said time and again that it is in their interest and everyone's interest to keep the strait of hormuz open to the free flow of ships that move goods and especially oil but the presence of battle ready boats like this are meant to send a message about who iran considers as being in charge of these waters this is as close as we can get to one of the runs warships the navy here takes the security of its vessels very seriously especially around the waters of the strait of hormuz where boats like this one have the job of policing traffic but also looking out for american warshi

. >>> also iran is threatening to close the strait of hormuz, the world's busiest -- buyers of iraniant stop making those purchases or face sanctions. according to barclays, about 20% of all sea borne crude passes through the strait of hormuz. the price of domestic crude closed higher closing above $66 a barrel. >> and as we've been reporting the spring housing market is shaping up to be a bit unpredictable. today we learned that sales of newly built homes rose last month one day after we learned that sales of existing homes fell. brian olick tries to make sense of it all. >> the nation's homebuilders are putting up fewer homes now than they were a year ago, but they suddenly seemed to be selling more. single family housing starts dropped 11% in march, but sales of new homes gained 3%. the cause of the disparity is likely pretty simple. mortgage rates. they rose throughout much of the second half of last year, peaking at over 5% on the 30-year fixed on november ane p prospects of the spring and rates then began falling this year and really plummeted in march when spring shoppers were o

look at district --strait of hormuz. this is the geography. are threatening they may where a hugef amount of the world oil travels. that is the potential flashpoint. terms of the output we are talking, 1.1 million barrels a day from iran, saudi and uae to lose out 1.5 million barrels a day. what does this mean for opec plus and discipline around output from other members if saudi arabia ramps up to balance the market? interesting to see the calls from different houses. goldman she's a limited price impact, barclays upside risk to the 2019 brent oil forecast. you have been looking at citigroup. manus: a bullish call on the commodity complex. we caught up with the atlantic thisil and they said position from the united states of america doesn't leave much room for negotiation and the other thing, it doesn't leave an elegant off graham -- offramp. let's get into the markets and see the reverberations are from the geopolitical story and whether that is permeating across the map. dani burger is in london. we'll get to you first. you've got the vix i

it says keeping the world's main oil and shipping was that the strait of hormuz i think as enron's on and trust they invest ravi has more from ted on. the us ramped up its pressure on iran earlier this week ending sanctions waivers that have for a few months allowed iran to sell oil to just eight countries all signs point to more u.s. sanctions targeting iran's oil dependent economy i do weekly cabinet meeting president hassan rouhani said iran remains open to dialogue but demanded an apology and a halt to pressure tactics conditions the united states is almost certainly unwilling to meet he also had this warning for the iranian people. asked not only to get out of him was a cute enough that america's not ready for talks at all what they're doing is meant to break the nation of iran america wants to enter to run again americans didn't learn their lesson from the top bus incident. that was the failed mission thirty nine years ago to rescue american hostages from the u.s. embassy takeover into. a sandstorm led to a helicopter and a war plane colliding killing eight u.s. servicemen this

foreign minister mohammad job at the reef says keeping the wild main oil shipping route the strait of hormuz open is in iran's own interest. has more from tehran. the u.s. ramped up its pressure on iran earlier this week ending sanctions waivers that have for a few months allowed iran to sow oil to just eight countries all signs point to more u.s. sanctions targeting iran's oil dependent economy i do weekly cabinet meeting president hassan rouhani said iran remains open to dialogue but demanded an apology and a halt to pressure tactics conditions the united states is almost certainly unwilling to meet he also had this warning for the iranian people. ask them what do you want to look at another america is not ready for talks at all what they're doing is meant to break the nation of iran america wants to enter to run again americans didn't learn their lesson from the top bus incident. that was the failed mission thirty nine years ago to rescue american hostages from the u.s. embassy takeover into iran. a sandstorm led to a helicopter and a war plane colliding killing eight u.s. servicemen this

iran's foreign minister says keeping the straits of hormuz open is in the interest of the rainy and national security the respect in new york after the u.s. withdrew sanctions waivers for china india and other oil customers of around. the boat. says the crisis over it seven three seven max jets discuss it a billion dollars in the first three months of the year two of the jets crashed in the past few months killing more than three hundred people the aerospace giant is working on a fix for a giant further excuse me a software problem that may have led to the accidents the company is also scrapped its profit forecast because of uncertainty about when the grounded plane will return to service. let's go live to chicago boeing's headquarters and john hendren our correspondent in say so not really a surprise the boeing took reputational hit because of these crashes but well they prepared for so much. not really a surprise martin but this is been a precipitous fall for this giant company let me put this in perspective for you shares of boeing of nearly tripled in value in the past three years that i

has been quoted in state media saying that officials are prepared to block traffic through the strait of hormuz and all prices are hovering near a six month high. now about this strait of her months what and where it is and how could it be a threat to the move of the oil markets the strait is a twenty one miles of ocean between iran and oman and geo graphically separates a permit her persian gulf from the gulf of oman roughly twenty percent of global oil production passes through the strait in route to markets around the world virtually all of qatar's output of liquefied natural gas is also shipped through the strait. in years past iran and the u.s. were in tangled in an international equivalent of trash talking around the strait for decades most seriously in one thousand nine hundred eighty eight u.s. forces on the u.s.s. vincennes shot down a civilian iranian airliner killing all two hundred ninety people on board which ostensibly protecting ships in the area from iranian forces oil prices are nearly at a six month high driven by the change in u.s. policy towards iran for the us that would me

it tries to stop it but as it says it won't disrupt the world's main oil shipping route the strait of hormuz president hassan rouhani says he's open to resuming talks but only if the u.s. apologizes first saying that's ravi has more from tehran. the u.s. ramped up its pressure on iran earlier this week ending sanctions waivers that have for a few months allowed iran to sell oil to just eight countries all signs point to more u.s. sanctions targeting iran's oil dependent economy i do weekly cabinet meeting president hassan rouhani said iran remains open to dialogue but demanded an apology and a halt to pressure tactics conditions the united states is almost certainly unwilling to meet he also had this warning for the iranian people. not only do you not i must look at another america's not ready for talks at all what they're doing is meant to break the nation of iran america wants to answer to run again americans didn't learn their lesson from the top us incident. that was the failed mission thirty nine years ago to rescue american hostages from the u.s. embassy takeover into. a sandstorm led

unlikely as the cost would be too high and that there has been talking to one of disrupting the strait of hormuz which would wreak havoc on oil markets but for now it may just be saber rattling what i'm saying is it is in our interests and not our national security interest to keep the persian gulf open to keep the strait of almost open but as long as sanctions continue to heighten tensions what happens next remains unpredictable zain. to her on. still ahead on the. miracle baby invested twenty two hours after a devastating earthquake bought for his song has destroyed hall and has yet to be free and frank in the u.s. the highest number of cases recorded in twenty five years. hello again and welcome back well across the levant things are looking fairly quiet over the next few days most of the weather has been pushing out here towards the east what we are going to be left with is the temperatures beginning to rise particularly over the southern sections and the central sections of iraq so tickled your forecast map as we go towards thursday twenty eight degrees is the forecast high here on thursday

so events right now are moving in a very confrontational direction and iran may shut down the strait of hormuz as a retaliation and that would be the world's most busiest transit lane for seaborne shipments for oil right now its response to our four hamley thirty percent of the world's oil exports daily and shutting this down could be disastrous could something like this happen if events were to escalate or certainly this maybe could happen but just remember this you know the iranian regime they may be nefarious they may be certainly not stupid and they're not and they're not as a nation they're certainly not suicidal so what would this mean yes you mentioned thirty is maybe thirty thirty five percent of the world's crude oil goes through the strait of hormuz that something like seventeen million barrels a day a huge amount of oil now all different nations would be affected and they know that they are now desperate for their few allies they have in the world they're not going to impact all these other nations so really this is brinksmanship and this is blustering on their part what are they su

iran's foreign minister says keeping the strait of hormuz open is in the interests of a rainy and national security the reef speaking in new york after the u.s. withdrew sanctions waivers to china for india as well as other major customers of iran. the north korean leaders arrived in neighboring russia for thursday's summit with that image putin kim jong un is in the port city of light of all stark two months after the breakdown of the second summit with donald trump in their mom came and told reporters he's keen to discuss the future of the korean peninsula with the russian president. will i came to russia with a warm feeling of our people i hope this visit will be successful and rewarding and that during the talks with esteemed president putin i will be able to specifically discuss issues of resolving the situation on the korean peninsula and development of a lot of the relationship. well mark fitzpatrick is director of the nonproliferation program at the international institute for strategic studies he says there are limits as to how much help moscow cannot see often north korea the rus

in response to the us may if iran is threatened to block the strait of hormuz the world's key oil artery transporting more than a third of international proved. is a professor of political communication at the university of tehran and joins you on the line now trades have you on fire at the threat of blocking the strait of hormuz iran's made this before is it more serious is it more believable the threat this time. but it depends how much oil iran can sell using the persian gulf area if iran is not able to sell oil this has been a mouse as you said from many years ago that if iran is not able to use this or most no other country and iran has the capability of closing six of four more so. this would. increase oil prices many fords and saudis would not be able to subsidize the loss of oil that is leaving this area so yes this is a serious threat it's becoming more serious last week as you know the united states government announced. it would be a terrorist organization this is iran's army basically and this is going to increase tensions in the persian gulf and i think the time had missed.

strangling iran's oil exports threatening to shut off the strait of hormuz one of the world's most important shipping lanes but one of the consequences not just for iran but the region and the global oil markets this is inside story. hello and welcome to inside story on camels santa maria when you think of important waterways in the world you probably think of places like the sewage of the panama canal is vital manmade shipping lanes which transformed global trade but perhaps just as important is the strait of hormuz i.