The Navy admits a $240,000,000 drone used in the war has gone missing.
Very informative article.
NATO can’t allow Iran to profit from ships paying tolls. That would be very difficult to stop once its become routine and established.
I feel strongly that the Strait of Hormuz has to remain a free passageway for the World’s shipping.
The US Navy blockade is working well on the US Navy.
On the other hand, the best option for the US would be to have the Trump family working the oars of a rowing shell with strong magnets mounted on the bow and surging around the Strait with Bibi as hortator demanding “RAMMING SPEED!”
Let’s not let those pesky satellite pictures show what we really have bombed, so we can claim that a girl’s school is a military centre and that civilian neighborhoods are legitimate targets. It’s just for two weeks. Aw, what am I saying? Make it indefinite:
But just a few days after the findings on Minab were published, Planet Labs announced a delay in the use of its images from the war zone, initially 96 hours, then two weeks. On 5 April, a few days before Donald Trump’s threat to destroy an “entire civilisation”, Planet Labs and another satellite imagery company called Vantor stated that, until further notice, no further image data from the crisis zones would be made available.
They were thus “voluntarily” complying with a request from the US government to “withhold imagery in the designated area of interest”, as stated in an email from Planet Labs to its customers. The “area of interest” includes Israel, Gaza and Lebanon, in addition to the Gulf region. The “request” carries weight: Planet Labs and Vantor work with US government institutions, including the Navy and the Army. And it is no secret that Donald Trump ensures those who refuse his “requests” face economic consequences.
Translated with DeepL(dot)com (free version)
Congratulations to Trump and Hegseth for handing over control of a very significant portion of global trade to Iran! And Iran didn’t even have to sink any tankers. Just issue vague threats and fly drones, and maritime insurance rates handle the rest!
This is a massive for Iran as it shows they can get whatever they want, even from Israel by blockading the strait.
This went down like this…
- Iran: No ceasefire until there is one in Lebanon. Strait stays closed while Israel is attacking Lebanon.
- Trump: toys out the pram, all caps truth social posts, empty threats to blockade the strait
- Iran: strait stays closed
- Trump: ok then we’ll pressure Israel into a ceasefire
- Israel: ok here’s a ceasefire in Lebanon
- Iran: looks legit. Straits open now. Pleasure doing business with you
This is a huge win for Iran
Yep, they have now demonstrated that they have a weapon they can use, if they feel forced to, to choke the world’s economy.
The blockade of Iranian ports didn’t contribute? The news was saying it could lead to permanent damage to Iran’s oil production if they had to shutdown wells as a result.
Iran says the deal Trump is hyping up once again does not exist.
This certainly is a strange, nineteen eighty four media blackout war. In order to know what’s actually happening, you have to take the word of whomever is tweeting, making Lego videos, or news conferencing their particular take.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-recover-uranium-iran-trump-tells-reuters-2026-04-17/
“We’re going to get it together. We’re going to go in with Iran, at a nice leisurely pace, and go down and start excavating with big machinery… We’ll bring it back to the United States,” Trump said during a phone interview.
In two weeks, I’m sure.
Back? You let the Iranians steal it in the first place, and now you are getting it back? Aha. Cool.
Another fortnight! 
This is totally a Trump strategy:
Have negotiations.
Ignore what the other party wants
Announce publicly that the other party has caved and has given him everything.
Dare the other party into calling him a liar/threaten to sue (or drop bombs)
This may work with business deals with small suppliers. It does not work with other countries.
…and Iran is closing the strait again.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5837279-iran-us-blockade-strait/
Is Iran just really trying to turn the oil prices against Trump so his insider trading scam fails? I wonder.
Insider trader scam sounds like a subject for a Trump oriented thread and not this, the bombing thread.
Moderating:
Yikes! Apologies. 
My bad.
The article mentions that Iran has fired on some ships.
Here is a quote from the AP article:
Revolutionary Guard gunboats opened fire on a tanker and an unknown projectile hit a container vessel, damaging some containers, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. India’s foreign ministry said it summoned Iran’s ambassador over the “serious incident” of firing on two India-flagged merchant ships, especially after Iran earlier let several India-bound ships through.