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- [00:04]
Podcast Host
You are listening to an art media podcast.
- [00:14]
Debra Pardes
It's Friday, april 24th. This episode was recorded at 5pm new york time on Thursday. I'm debra pardes and this is arc news daily.
- [00:28]
Iranian Official
We are completely strangling their economy through this blockade. They're losing $500 million a day. The Kharg island is completely full. They can't move oil in and out. They can't even pay their own people.
- [00:40]
Debra Pardes
The White House has rebranded the war with Iran in a sign that the conflict has entered a new stage. Press Secretary Caroline Levitt says Operation Epic Fury is now Operation Economic Fury. In other words, the US Is swapping bombs for an intensifying blockade, plus sanctions and financial isolation. As part of the blockade, President Donald Trump said yesterday that the US Was clearing Iranian laid mines from the Strait of Hormuz. He added that going forward, the Navy has orders to shoot and kill any boat that attempts to drop new mines. The US Also expanded its efforts beyond the strait as part of a wider campaign to block all shipping to and from Iran.
- [01:28]
US Military Officer
Motor vessel Majestic X, we intend to conduct the boarding of your vessel.
- [01:32]
Debra Pardes
Yesterday, American forces took over an Iranian linked oil tanker in the Indian Ocean. It was the second seizure this week. The US Also placed new sanctions on more than a dozen people and companies accused of supplying arms to the regime. And it suspended US Dollar shipments to Iraq to ramp up pressure to dismantle Iran backed proxies. Trump says he will keep up the economic pressure until Iran agrees to a deal that would end the war. At minimum, that would mean a full reopening of Hormuz guarantees that the regime can't develop a nuclear bomb. In response, Iran's UN Ambassador Amir Said Irvani said this.
- [02:13]
US Military Officer
It is a condition that at first they should block the blockade and after that the next round of the negotiation will take place.
- [02:21]
Debra Pardes
Basically no talks until the blockade is lifted. It seems a return to full scale war is off the table for now. Trump extended the ceasefire indefinitely earlier this week. Iran has not resumed its attacks on its Gulf neighbors. It did seize two ships near Hormuz and fired at another, but the White House gave them a pass. Levitt said the attacks didn't violate the truce because the ships were not American or Israeli. In the meantime, both sides claim they can wait each other out. U.S. officials say the blockade is hurting Iran more than it's letting on. Alongside the lost revenue from oil exports, state media have reported long lines for bread and fuel in Tehran, Trump said yesterday, quote, I have all the time in the world, but Iran doesn't The clock is ticking. But Iranian leaders argue the opposite. They say it's the US that is losing and the global economic pressure will break them first. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Golubov yesterday denied US claims that the regime is fragmented. He said, quote, we are all Iranians and revolutionaries and will make the criminal aggressors regret their actions. The fact that Iran is now the one asking for Hormuz to be reopened is a sign that the US is in the stronger position. Since the start of the war, control of the strait has been Iran's main weapon. It's given the regime the power to hold the world economy hostage. But the US blockade has turned that weapon against Iran. It's unclear where things go from here, but history shows that Iran has withstood far worse. The last time the Islamic Republic accepted a ceasefire under pressure was in 1988. The then Supreme Leader compared making the compromise to drinking from a poisoned chalice. That came only after a brutal eight year war. With Iraq, collapsing oil revenues and US military intervention, more British Jews are moving to Israel than at any point in the past four decades. That's according to a new report out this week from the Institute for Jewish Policy Research in London, or JPR. According to the study, 742 people made aliyah from the UK last year, the highest number since the mid-1980s. It's been rising slightly year after year since Hamas's attack on October 7, even as Israel has been fighting a multi front war. While British Jews make up a small share of overall immigration to Israel, they are often seen as a bellwether for larger trends in the Diaspora. In fact, arrivals from Western countries have ticked up. Those are also the countries where antisemitism has risen most sharply since October 7th.
- [05:14]
Phil Rosenberg
We've had two and a half years of very high levels of anti Semitism. So the community does feel very anxious.
- [05:20]
Debra Pardes
Phil Rosenberg leads JPR's board of directors and he says despite the anxiety, British Jews aren't retreating entirely. The study found that many feel it's still possible to maintain their Jewish identities in the uk. It also noted that decisions about aliyah are rarely driven by a single factor. If antisemitism is driving Jews out of the uk, the Jewish state also has its own pull, according to JPR director Jonathan Boyd.
- [05:48]
Podcast Host
In general, I would say, and we've seen this over a long time, that Jews are very emotionally attached to Israel. It's a really important piece of who they are and it's an important piece of their Jewishness.
- [05:59]
Debra Pardes
It's also important to note that the survey data was collected before a recent wave of anti Semitic violence in the uk. Senior counterterrorism officer Vicki Evans said police are investigating possible links to Iran.
- [06:13]
Vicki Evans
I've spoken previously about the Iranian regime's use of criminal proxies, and we're considering whether this tactic is being used here in London.
- [06:21]
Debra Pardes
The study says it's too soon to call the uptick in aliyah an exodus, but what British authorities do now is likely to impact immigration patterns over the course of this year. More that in JPR's next study. I'm Deborah Pardes and this is ARK News Daily. Shabbat Shalom. Have a good weekend.