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Karen and Georgia
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hi, it's Karen and Georgia from my favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr. Want the full story? Take a listen. She starts dating Howard Hughes and in fact, she helps him design a faster plane. So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode spotlighting groundbreaking innovators like Hedy and Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ioniq 5. Goodbye.
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Ben Ferguson
Mom, can I have Lingokids? Dad, Lingokids, please. When did we become the Lingokids house?
Karen and Georgia
No idea. Last week it was dinosaurs. This week it Lingokids.
Ben Ferguson
Why Lingokids? Because it's the best thing ever. We can play games with astronauts, wild animals and superheroes. With more than 4,000 interactive games, songs and shows, LingoKids is the number one entertainment platform for young kids.
Karen and Georgia
So no dinosaurs and dinosaurs.
Ben Ferguson
Lingokids.
Fox News Anchor
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Fox News Anchor
Can you ensure that the Iranians won't use profits from oil sales to rebuild their military?
Vice President
Well, they're not supposed to be doing that, so we'll see. But they're supposed to use money to buy food for their people because right now the people are very hungry and they're buying it exclusively from us. Corn. Soybeans. Should be a lot of money. I hope it's a lot of money.
Ben Ferguson
You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Good Tuesday morning. Nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update. We've got a major update on Iran, including the fact that Iran may be buying American soybeans with unfriendly frozen funds. Plus, Australian Hormuz is actually still open. So where are we right now? We break it down for you. Now, before we get to that, I want to talk to you about how you can have a real impact in the world with Compassion International. A few years ago, I made the choice to partner with Compassion International to sponsor a child who is in desperate need. Now, it was a great idea, right? That's what most people say. All right. It's nice, sure, but. But you really have no idea just how much that simple act can actually change a life. And I'm not just talking about the child. I'm talking about my life. Now, I sponsored Nadia and got to watch her life change right in front of my eyes. Going from starving alone on the street to getting the healthcare and education that she needs to reach her God given potential. I got to be a part of that change. And the light of that compassion not only illuminated her, but it illuminated me. That's the power of compassion. And it's something I'm trying to teach my children about as well. Now the light of Christ shines on all of us. And you can feel this for yourself and for your children. You can sponsor a child and have them involved. That's what I love so much. So not only are you changing a child's life, you're helping change the world, but you may even be changing yourself and your family. You can sponsor a child today. Visit compassion.com that's compassion.com. it's a 47 morning update and it starts right now. Story number one. I want to get an update on what's happening with the Strait of Hormuz right now and the Iran deal, which is up and down as the vice President's trying to salvage this thing and try to get us some good news. But what we are being told right now is that tankers are in fact continuing to move through the Strait of Hormuz despite the Iranian threat. Although Iran proclaimed that the Straight of Hormuz was once again closed on Saturday, tankers continue to move through the vital waterway, including very large crude carriers and liquid natural gas tankers as well. That is good news for the world economy. The strait was reopened on Thursday after President Donald Trump and the Iranian president signed their memorandum of understanding, the MOUs, to establish the framework for a quote, unquote peace deal. Just a few days later, on Saturday, Tehran announced the straight was closed again because Israel was still fighting Iran's terrorist proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon. U.S. central Command CENTCOM responded by saying that Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz, quote unquote very simple, then came out with another statement saying traffic continues to flow and US Forces are monitoring the situation to ensure this in fact remains the case is what the CENTCOM spokesman captain Tim Hawkins said in a statement. Now safe passage through the international waterway remains intact today as 55 merchant ships transited moving large amounts of cargo and more than 17 million barrels of oil to the global market, Simcom said on Saturday. US Forces remain present and vigilant to ensure all aspects of the agreement with Iran are adhered to, obeyed and in full force and effect, the statement continued. Now CENTCOM referred to the latest bulletin from the Joint Maritime Information center, which lowered its risk advisory level for the Strait of Hormuz to moderate and said the straight is quote now open. JMIC posted an update on Sunday that said traffic flows are increasing so not decreasing even though Iran said that the straight was closed. Well, the number of ships going through increased, they said. Navigational system interference and wider regional military activity continues to warrant caution. Navigational interference includes hailing and surveillance activity by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the irgc. Reuters also reported on Monday that oil and liquid natural gas tankers are indeed moving through the Strait of Hormuz and traffic is picking up. They said four LNG tankers controlled by Qatar headed into the gulf and through the strait on Monday, while two supertankers, which can carry up to 4 million barrels of crude alone, cross into the Gulf, with one signaling its destination as the Iraqi port of Basra. The report said that the data from the ship tracker also confirmed that they said two smaller crew tankers carrying just under 2 million barrels of oil in total sailed out of the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf of Oman on Monday, citing a different set of ship tracking data for that. So what we now know, it's pretty clear now that this is apparently what Iran says and their propaganda doesn't actually match reality, I think it's fair to say yet again now, Reuters also noted that more ships could be passing through the strait with their Automatic Information System or AIs transponders turned off for safety. They said based on visual observations, traffic does seem to slow considerably after the IRG said that the straight was closed again, failing, falling, excuse me, from 26 ships spotted on Saturday to just five on Sunday. So when they say something like this it does have an impact. Now the South Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries also said on Monday that two ships were operated by South Korea have been able to pass safely through the strait since the MOU was signed. The ministry provided a few further details in the interest of safety because the ships have not yet fully exited what is described as a high risk zone. They mentioned that neither of them is crewed by South Koreans or currently headed for port in South Korea. They listed also Intelligence Lloyd's List Intelligence said on Sunday that commercial traffic quote continued to move through the strait over the weekend despite repeated Iranian claims that it had closed the waterway in response to what described as Israel's violation of a ceasefire because them targeting terrorists in Lebanon. Now another maritime intelligence company known as Windward concurred with its own analysis that traffic through the southern corridor was not reflecting any closure. They noted that the strait was nowhere near returning to its pre war traffic loads based on the traffic data. Windward split the analytical difference by observing that high visibility traffic with transponders switched on had stalled even before the IRGC declared the strait was closed on Saturday. So they're turning off their transponders for safety reasons, they said. Twelve transits today, down from 21 on June 20. Neutral and European tonnage absent five of the seven inbound vessels dark, Windward said. So again, that means that they're turning off their transponders because they feel like that gives them a better chance of safely passing through the straight. They said the current traffic profile is dark sanctioned and Iran linked resemble the late blockade baseline more than a functioning open straight. The analyst concluded there so this is what the vice president is having to deal with right now. This is what the president's having to deal with right now. This is what the Trump administration's having to deal with right now. And honestly, this is what the world's having to deal with now. Fox News anchors also poured a lot of blunt I think a fair way of saying it is cold water on J.D. vance's Iran deal update. And put it this way, as they were describing the latest update, as Vance said, Trump wants to focus on Iran's actions, I guess more than their words. Listen carefully to their words.
Fox News Anchor
Okay. The vice president boarding the plane, Air Force Two and heading back to the United States after a couple of days of negotiations there in the beautiful part of the world, Luzerne, Switzerland, with the Iranian delegation. Sanders saying that he's achieved some success in setting up a mechanism to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. Though a lot of people would say American firepower is all you need to do that, setting up a mechanism to achieve a lasting cease fire. And the fact that the Iranians say that they will allow inspectors to come in in terms of their nuclear program. But the vice president there, with a caveat that says we don't know exactly what that means and if history is any guide, might not mean much, adding
Interviewer/Host
that it's been a very confusing process to negotiate with the Iranians. But that positive talk about getting that oil moving is what continues to send oil prices lower now near $74 a barrel. The US stock market still hovering near all time highs. So as long as the messaging continues to be that, you know, we have reason to believe that the White House is happy with what they've seen so far, John.
Fox News Anchor
And the word from the administration, and you and I know this because we were on a call with the senior administration official a little more than a week ago, is that if this all transpires in the way that the White House hopes it will, it has the potential to transform the Middle East. The vice president reiterated that again. But he also said we haven't built the house yet. And I would think of all of the things, all of the houses or all of the buildings that President Trump has built over his long and storied career as a real estate developer, building this particular house with the Iranians is probably the toughest challenge he's ever faced.
Interviewer/Host
And I'm sure that's all part of the vision. All right. We are going to have much more on that in reaction to it coming up. Meanwhile, the judge and the so so
Ben Ferguson
you can hear there, there's a lot of people, they're scratching their head like the vice president is there with a caveat that says we don't know exactly what that means, referring to this, you know, nuclear inspection. And if history is any guide that might not mean much. Those are the words from FOX News Channel. I think it's Very interesting how blunt they were there after the Vice President kind of gave his update of where we are. We now are being told that the frozen Iranian funds would not be released unless the United States continues to see progress. While describing a Qataris as an oversight mechanism for funds that could be used to buy American soybeans, Vance's remarks came after reporter asked whether Iran had already agreed that frozen funds could be used to buy American soybeans. Vance replied, yeah, that was something that came up yesterday. We actually asked the Qataris to help us set up the mechanism so that we could ensure that the money goes where we want it to go. And they agreed to that. We have a good relationship obviously with them and a good operational oversight mechanism in place. But even with that said, even with the caveat that's going to benefit American farmers and obviously benefit the people of Iran, we want both. But fundamentally the money is not going to be unfrozen unless we continue to see progress. And that will obviously be a big part of the negotiations in the days to come. Now, the comments follow the release of the memo of understanding between the United States and Iran, which the White House confirmed after the full text was shared with the reporters. The memo said the United States and Iran had jointly agreed in good faith to terms involving the current conflict, the current sanctions, Iran's nuclear program and negotiations towards a, quote, unquote, further final deal. The memo also stated the United States would make fully available for use the frozen or restricted funds and assets of Iran upon implementation of the MoU. The two countries would mutually agree on procedures for releasing these funds during the negotiations. And the text said that such funds, whether kept in the original account or transferred, would be fully usable for payment to any unlimited beneficiary designed by the central bank designated, excuse me, by the central bank of Iran. That is where a lot of conservatives started, like, screaming, I was one of them, over this massive red flag. And that's why the question that was asked there of the President was an important one. Now you can hear the Vice President saying, no, no, like, we've got this, everything's fine. Again, this goes back to the issue of trust, but verify. President Trump was also asked if he would risk worldwide depression and strike Iran again. So again the media with their doom or gloom, questioning, continuing, listen, if there's a war with Iran could cause a
Interviewer/Host
worldwide depression, as you noted, Mr. President, are you willing to risk economic catastrophe
Ben Ferguson
and strike Iran again?
Vice President
Well, not the way I'm doing it. It's not going to cause depression.
Ben Ferguson
Yes, but if they don't abide by the.
Vice President
Well, nuclear weapon supersedes depression. Depression is real bad. Nuclear weapon will cause depression much more quickly. The way we're doing it, we have the opposite of a depression. We're doing really well. The numbers are incredible. The oil is at a level that nobody has ever seen before. Oil prices are way down. I think they're very comparable to what they were, Chris. I don't know. Pretty comparable to what they were before we started.
Ben Ferguson
They've returned most of the way back down. So if Iran does not abide by
Interviewer/Host
the mou, are you still one?
Vice President
Well, I didn't say it would cause a depression. I said it could cause a depression. Right. And they said that. I don't want to be Herbert Hoover. That's a president I don't want to be because he, you know, he was in charge during the Great Depression, and certainly a lot of bad things could happen. That would be one of the things. I don't think it would. But if it did. But no, if. If Iran doesn't live up to their agreement or if they're not behaving, I will. I will do what I have to do.
Ben Ferguson
It really is interesting to hear the media there do everything that they possibly can to make you believe that the sky is falling. The world is ending. It is over, folks. And if Donald Trump attacks Iran again, that we're going to go into this catastrophic economic fall, not just America, but the rest of the world. Ask yourself this question. Why would the media describe it this way? Because they do not want the president, United States of America, to be successful in actually dismantling Iran from being a threat to our national security. And what they're really about here is they want this president to be a failure. They want him and everything that happens to be a failure. So if the president does his job, which is to keep us safe, and deal with a national security issue, that can't have been kicked down the road for how long? I go back to what Donald Trump is doing. He has the same policy towards Iran that Hillary Clinton had, that Bill Clinton had, that Barack Obama had, that Joe Biden had, that Kamala Harris had, that Chuck Schumer had that Nancy Pelosi had that Iran cannot get a nuclear weapon. The only difference is that a guy by the name of Donald Trump is actually willing to do it. They were not. They just would keep punting and kicking the ball because they didn't want to deal with it. Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit. Subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now. And for more in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Podcast and we will see you back here tomorrow.
Karen and Georgia
Hi, it's Karen and Georgia from My favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr. Want the full story? Take a listen. She starts dating Howard Hughes and in fact she helps him design a faster plane. So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode spotlighting groundbreaking innovators like Hedy and Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ioniq 5. Goodbye.
Ben Ferguson
Mom, can I have Lingokids, Dad? Lingokids, please. When did we become the Lingokids house?
Karen and Georgia
No idea. Last week it was dinosaurs, this week it's Lingokids.
Fox News Anchor
Why Lingokids?
Ben Ferguson
Because it's the best thing ever. We can play games with astronauts, wild animals and superheroes. With more than 4,000 interactive games, songs
Lingokids Announcer
and shows, LingoKids is the number one
Ben Ferguson
entertainment platform for young kids.
Karen and Georgia
So no dinosaurs and dinosaurs.
Fox News Anchor
Everything kids love, download it for free.
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Ben Ferguson
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Date: June 23, 2026
Host: Ben Ferguson | Source: Premiere Networks
In this episode of The 47 Morning Update, Ben Ferguson provides an essential briefing on the evolving situation in the Strait of Hormuz and the ongoing US-Iran negotiations. Despite Iran’s claims of closing the Strait, oil and LNG tankers continue transiting the channel, signaling resilience in global energy flows but also raising significant concerns about regional security, political messaging, and economic impact. The podcast unpacks conflicting narratives from Iran, the US administration, and international media, with a special focus on the Trump administration’s strategy and the controversy surrounding the partial unfreezing of Iranian funds.
Contradictory Claims: Despite Iranian declarations of shutting down the Strait of Hormuz (the world's most critical oil chokepoint), independent data and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirm uninterrupted traffic of oil and gas tankers.
Impact of Iranian Threats:
International Confirmation:
Cautious Optimism Publicly, Skepticism Privately:
US Leverage & The Question of Trust:
Oversight of Released Funds:
Concerns Among Conservatives:
Media's Catastrophe Narrative:
The Red Line – Nuclear Ambitions:
On Iranian Oil Revenue & Trust (Vice President)
“They're supposed to use money to buy food for their people because right now the people are very hungry and they're buying it exclusively from us. Corn. Soybeans. Should be a lot of money. I hope it's a lot of money.” (02:49)
On US Leverage (Ben Ferguson)
“The money is not going to be unfrozen unless we continue to see progress, and that will obviously be a big part of the negotiations in the days to come.” (13:29)
On the Risk of War and Depression (Vice President)
“Depression is real bad. Nuclear weapon will cause depression much more quickly. The way we're doing it, we have the opposite of a depression. We're doing really well. The numbers are incredible...” (15:46)
FOX News on the Challenge of Diplomacy
“Building this particular house with the Iranians is probably the toughest challenge [Trump's] ever faced.” (12:35)
| Topic | Insight/Quote | Timestamp | |----------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------| | Strait of Hormuz Status | “Tankers are in fact continuing to move through the Strait of Hormuz despite the threat.” | 04:39 | | CENTCOM Statement | 55 merchant ships transited; vigilance continues. | 05:36 | | Ship Tracking Reports | Ships remain, some “dark” for safety; traffic not zero. | 07:41 | | Nuclear Inspections | “We don't know exactly what that means and if history is any guide, might not mean much.” | 11:54 | | US Funds for Soybean Deal | “The money is not going to be unfrozen unless we continue to see progress.” | 13:29 | | Media Catastrophizing | “It really is interesting to hear the media... make you believe that the sky is falling.” | 16:58 | | Presidential Comparison | “Building this house with the Iranians...toughest challenge [Trump] has ever faced.” | 12:35 | | Trump vs Past Presidents | “The only difference is that… Trump is actually willing to do it. They were not.” | 17:55 |
This episode offers a brisk, candid analysis of the week’s biggest policy test for the Trump administration—one where red flags are flying, oil is flowing, and the world is watching closely.