Ships Back Under Fire in the Strait of Hormuz

[0:00] it's monday april 20th is the ceasefire still on well maybe ask the boats taking incoming we start [0:06] here the u.s and iran said the strait of hormuz was open now shots are ringing out the iranian [0:15] navy had fired on vessels trying to get through the strait of hormuz american negotiators say [0:20] they're ready to talk but will they have anyone to talk with the companies that paid monster tariffs [0:26] would like their money back the government says that already more than 56 000 businesses have [0:31] signed up for refunds it's a different kind of liberation day just not necessarily for consumers [0:37] and this was more than a protest it looked more like an attempted jailbreak saws fence cutters [0:42] sledgehammers they say that these protesters were ready to go more than a thousand demonstrators [0:47] are met by police at an animal research facility from abc news this is start here i'm brad milkey [0:56] you wonder what it's like for someone on an oil tanker in the middle east right now well this is [1:08] the voice of one of those people sort of so i'm a seafarer currently stranded at the persian gulf [1:16] this person messaged us from a commercial cargo ship which they describe as a fully loaded oil tanker [1:22] because they're not authorized to speak publicly we have altered their voice but in these exclusive [1:27] voice recordings they describe how like many other ships this vessel has been sitting anchored near the [1:32] strait of hormuz for weeks now it does feel like we are in the prison because once you are here [1:41] and there is no way to get out up through the beginning of this month the us and israel were [1:47] pounding targets in iran whether they were naval bases or pieces of equipment or even specific leaders [1:53] iran responded by inflicting damage on persian gulf neighbors and on ships transporting goods through the [1:59] strait of hormuz i've seen missiles passing over our heads i have seen drones and planes fly by every [2:09] day and we don't know their intentions i've seen vessels getting hit with my own eyes as if i was [2:18] looking into a mirror almost two weeks ago the us and iran signed on to a ceasefire but that was [2:24] pockmarked by confusion and suspicion most ships didn't move the ones who give in to the pressure [2:30] of crossing the strait do so with the target on their backs then last week there was a crucial [2:36] development president trump announcing just a few hours ago iran has fully opened the strait of [2:42] hormuz after lebanon reached a ceasefire agreement with israel israel and lebanon reached a truce [2:48] suddenly the us and iran were telling sailors hey that's good enough for us the strait of hormuz [2:54] is open tracking data from friday showed several ships started to make their way through the [2:59] strait but no one seemed to trust it several turned around what i can see from here from my point of [3:05] view is that no vessels have started to move it turns out our source on board here might have been [3:15] right to hesitate because as the weekend went on we went from ships being told the strait is open to [3:20] ships being under attack and guess what whatever remains of this fragile ceasefire that's supposed [3:27] to officially expire this week let's start the day with abc's chief washington correspondent jonathan [3:32] carl john first off there's been so much whiplash in terms of the strait of hormuz itself can you just [3:36] walk us through like from the moment that truce was signed between israel and lebanon last week to now [3:42] what has been going on i mean on friday the president sounded as if peace had broken out in the middle [3:48] east i actually spoke to him friday twice and he was touting the fact that the israelis and the lebanese [3:58] had had come to a ceasefire he predicted that the united states would come in and have a comprehensive [4:04] peace agreement not just between lebanon and israel but with hezbollah of course the the iranian proxy [4:11] group in lebanon and israel and that this was going to lead to a permanent peace we're going to help [4:16] lebanon become a country again you know it's been a long time for them they've gone through a lot [4:20] he was touting what the iranians he said had already agreed to which was completely giving up [4:27] the idea of enriching uranium ever uh allowing the united states to take out the nuclear material that [4:33] highly enriched uranium they have can you walk us through what that process looks like sir we're [4:37] taking it very simple we're taking it with iran we're going in with iran and then you had some [4:43] pretty belligerent statements coming out uh from the iranians actually they started not long after [4:48] trump was touting all the success on on friday saying there is you know no agreement we will [4:53] never give up enrichment we would never turn it over to the to the united states that's never been on the [4:58] table never been part of the discussion and you know saturday came and we heard reports uh later [5:05] confirmed that the iranian navy had fired on vessels trying to get through the strait of hormuz [5:12] these are indian flagged vessels the indian government registered its complaint i mean [5:17] john we we have sound of this actually this is the crude oil tanker the sanmar herald this is an india [5:23] flagged oil tanker and this is what you could hear on the radio as this was going down this is obtained [5:27] by tankertrackers.com they're saying you gave me clearance to go my name second on your list you gave me [5:39] clearance to go you are fighting now let me turn back they're saying you gave me clearance to go my [5:45] name is on your list you gave me clearance to go you're firing now they say let me turn back [5:50] just absolute chaos out there yeah and so that's a violation of the ceasefire agreement and what the [5:55] iranian foreign minister had said the strait is open well guess what it's not open so that happened on [6:01] saturday uh as i was coming in to uh anchor this week on you know yesterday i gave the president a [6:09] call it was actually like 6 40 in the morning uh and he answered he actually yeah he's always up early [6:17] uh he still sounded like this was all gonna come together which was interesting because you know he [6:22] he did appear before the television cameras on saturday and we'll be talking about around later we have [6:28] uh very good conversations going on it's uh it's working out very well they got a little cute as [6:34] they have been doing for 47 years and reporters tried to ask him about iran and he refused to answer [6:41] so i was actually surprised that he wanted to talk on on sunday morning but he said look this is going [6:50] to happen this everything's going to be fine look they're going to agree to something if they don't [6:54] there's going to be big trouble uh for iran and it'll happen it'll happen the nice way or it'll [7:01] happen the hard way and not long after that we saw that extraordinary statement he put out on true [7:07] social saying you know ron's either going to agree to what we've offered or we are going to destroy [7:14] every bridge and every power plant in the country of iran so that's where we are well and so the idea [7:22] that the us has been working under is great now we iran said we needed a ceasefire with lebanon to [7:28] open up the strait that's done we needed the straight to be open to have another round of peace talks [7:32] that's done so the thinking was this is the moment then when you have like negotiations back in pakistan [7:37] or whatever what is the deal with that then well and that was the other part of the president's [7:42] extraordinary statement on sunday morning he said that there would be peace talks in islamabad he was [7:48] sending his team there there was some momentary confusion about who exactly would lead the mission [7:53] but you know they he said that there's going to be a you know beginning monday night in pakistan [7:59] there's going to be uh these talks it was clarified by the white house that jd vance would be leading [8:05] the talks but no sooner did that happen that the iranians said there aren't going to be any talks unless [8:13] the united states first lifts the embargo of all vessels coming in and out of iran now that's the [8:22] embargo where they say anyone can go through the strait unless you're going to iranian ports unless [8:26] you're coming out of iranian ports that's the thing the u.s will not stand for right now yeah i mean [8:30] the the united states has its own military embargo ensuring that nothing can leave iran or come to iran [8:38] this is a little bit outside of what the iranians have been doing outside of the strait and in my [8:44] conversations with president trump he sees this u.s embargo is absolutely essential he said it will [8:51] come down as soon as the iranians agree to a deal but he said it's absolutely essential because with [8:57] that embargo the iranians cannot sell a drop of oil and then their economy is crushed this is the big [9:05] pressure point and now the iranians are saying well guess what you lift that pressure point or we're [9:10] not even going to come to your talks in pakistan so brad bottom line heck of a lot of confusion here [9:18] disagreement between the president and the iranians about what has been agreed to and disagreement even [9:27] on what's going to happen with talks right in fact just last night the u.s announced it has seized [9:33] an iranian flagged cargo ship that they say was trying to evade this naval blockade the pentagon [9:38] actually released this video online vacate your engine room vacate your engine room trump said the [9:44] navy blew a hole in that vessel's engine room now that means the u.s and iran are each firing at [9:51] ships out there we'll see what negotiations are even possible jonathan carl thank you thanks brian [9:57] next up on start here if a tax refund sounds good right about now well just wait until you hear what [10:05] these companies who paid big tariffs are about to get we're back in a bit it was more than a year [10:15] ago that president trump announced sweeping tariffs on countries and their products around the world [10:20] he called it liberation day april 2nd 2025 will forever be remembered as the day american industry [10:28] was reborn the day america's destiny was reclaimed and the day that we began to make america wealthy again [10:38] his argument was that other countries have long been restricting what they will buy from the u.s [10:43] while we just buy whatever's cheapest often to the detriment of u.s manufacturers other [10:48] countries though call this new policy unfair economists called it unprecedented a complete [10:53] overhaul of the economic world order and earlier this year the u.s supreme court called the move [10:58] illegal at least the way the white house implemented some of these tariffs using the international emergency [11:04] economic powers act well that all means that businesses who did pay some of these taxes [11:09] already are now entitled to get that money back that process begins today abc senior white house [11:15] correspondent selena wang is here selena what is about to happen here can you walk me through this [11:20] yeah so after months of waiting businesses are finally getting answers on how to get some of that [11:25] tariff money back so starting today as of this morning they can apply for refunds through a new [11:31] online portal run by customs and border protection now important to note that businesses have to opt [11:36] in for refunds and even for valid claims it'll take 60 to 90 days to see that money and longer if there [11:42] are any issues with the application and this applies to the tariffs that the supreme court ruled were illegal [11:47] back in february and it covered a big bulk of president trump's tariffs so far yeah how much money is about [11:55] to change hands here this seems big yeah brad we're talking about a lot of money here the government [11:59] says it collected an estimated 166 billion dollars in tariffs that the supreme court had ruled were [12:05] illegal several months ago again these are tariffs that were issued under the international emergency [12:10] economic powers act also known as iep it's a congressional power not a presidential power to tax [12:18] and you want to say tariffs are not taxes but that's exactly what they are the supreme court ruling [12:23] that tariffs that were issued under that legal statute were unlawful and exceeded presidential authority [12:29] so and if we're about to see like tens of thousands of importers say hey we'd like our money back [12:34] please what's the economic ripple effect of that like who benefits from it and maybe does anyone get [12:39] hurt yeah so first of all the government says that already more than 56 000 businesses have signed up [12:44] for refunds on 127 billion dollars of that total number i mentioned earlier of 166 billion dollars but [12:51] here's the rub and what really hits home for you and me is that only companies and importers that [12:55] directly paid those tariffs to the government can get those refunds that is despite consumers like [13:01] you and me bearing the brunt of these tariffs through higher prices at the checkout so if you're [13:07] a shopper hoping to get your money back we have seen some shoppers sue companies oh like like the [13:13] things i was looking for on amazon cost me more money now i would like some of my money back please [13:18] like that doesn't apply to us as individuals no we cannot apply directly for these refunds and shoppers [13:24] hoping to get their money back what we've seen them do is sue several companies so far we've heard [13:28] from a small number of companies some of which have been sued um saying that they will pass on their [13:35] savings for instance fedex has publicly committed to passing on refunds to customers costco says the [13:40] company will return the value through lower prices so what happens now that is this like the end of [13:46] the debate on tariffs because president trump still believes firmly that these are like a useful [13:50] tool for him right this is not even close to the end of the debate on tariffs that supreme court ruling [13:56] on iepah was a big setback for the president given just how sweeping that legal authority was but the [14:02] administration has already moved to implement tariffs under different legal statutes their [14:09] decisions incorrect but it doesn't matter because we have very powerful alternatives that have been [14:15] approved by this decision you know they've been approved by the decision the administration [14:20] is basically trying to recreate those iepah tariffs through different legal authorities [14:25] that again are not as sweeping so it would be more of a patchwork but we are seeing those tariffs also [14:31] some of them face legal challenges so really the battle in the courts it's still very much underway [14:37] yeah and similar to i mean war powers a lot of things we've been talking about lately a big question [14:41] for the courts up and down the federal circuit will be what can the president do on his own and does any of [14:46] this need to be passed by congress especially if your rationale is that there's an emergency [14:51] of some sort uh selena wang thank you so much thanks brad when you think about people trying to [15:00] physically occupy a space whether it's student protesters chaining themselves inside of a dean's [15:05] office or football fans trying to storm the field it's not that it's hard there are more of you than there [15:10] are security personnel what's tough is to find enough people who share your strong feelings and who are [15:16] willing to take action to overwhelm the space you got to have overwhelming conviction well that [15:21] apparently was not an issue for animal rights protesters in wisconsin this weekend when close [15:27] to a thousand people swarmed a research facility that breeds beagles like the dogs for scientific [15:33] research police were involved non-lethal weapons were fired and officials described this as less of [15:38] a protest and more like a siege let's go to abc's olivia rubin who's been reporting all this out [15:43] olivia can you just walk me through step by step what happened here brad this was a dramatic scene [15:48] as you say it happened outside this little known wisconsin research facility that you mentioned [15:53] actually breeds beagles this is all for biomedical research and police say there was essentially this [15:59] planned protest nearly a thousand protesters going to this location some of them saying they were going [16:07] to actually attempt to get inside the facility and set thousands of those dogs free law enforcement was [16:16] shouting warnings at these protesters eventually it did escalate they deployed tear gas pepper balls at [16:25] protesters who they say trying to violently break in here this is not a peaceful protest and we will do [16:33] everything and use every resource we have to keep and maintain the peace they said that there were a [16:39] significant number of arrests they shared images of what they say were essentially the burglary tools [16:44] here saws fence cutters sledgehammers they say that these protesters were ready to go but get this [16:51] this actually isn't the first time that this happened authorities say that last year protesters got [16:58] into the facility and actually did take some of those dogs clearly this was an emotionally charged scene [17:06] our affiliate out there wkow actually spoke to some of those protesters a lot of people are bleeding and [17:12] hurt on the ground many people have been tear gas outside of what's called ridgeland farm again breeding those [17:18] beagles for medical purposes i guess let's talk about this i didn't know that beagles specifically were bred for [17:25] scientific research apparently dogs are one of the species that research groups will conduct tests on to test the [17:31] efficacy of certain drugs or therapies our station wjla in washington did a whole story last year about [17:36] the national institute of health discontinuing experiments on beagles specifically because [17:42] multiple beagles which are so trusting and will offer themselves up for experiments again and again [17:46] were ending up dead at great expense of taxpayers by the way because it costs a lot of money to buy [17:51] dogs from these research facilities but like what was the deal with this specific [17:55] place what were the protesters sort of looking for exactly there's been some controversy around this [18:00] specific facility ridgeland actually is set to give up its state breeding license later this year [18:07] in a deal to avoid potential criminal charges because essentially what happened brad is a special [18:12] prosecutor a court appointed special prosecutor went in and did some investigating and said they may have [18:19] actually found evidence of animal mistreatment at this facility that's according to the new york times [18:24] so in a deal here the company essentially agreeing to give up that state breeding license [18:30] but that's not everything that ridgeland does they are still going to be able to continue to allow [18:36] to have those beagles to perform its own experiments but what's changing is they can't sell the dogs [18:42] to other companies that are doing the experiments there so it's a bit of a deal that was worked out [18:48] here so again that's set to happen later this year that's according to the new york times but still [18:53] these protesters it seems going to this location because of these allegations that have surrounded [18:59] ridgeland farms so i will say in a statement ridgeland said that their research benefits animals and [19:05] they're thanking law enforcement for what they say was effectively preventing a violent mass break-in and [19:11] theft [19:11] so it all comes back brad to those beagle dogs inside a wisconsin facility for research the facility says that [19:24] it's benefiting animals but clearly these activists are quite charged quite emotionally charged [19:30] about the allegations that inside this facility is possible animal mistreatment right and i know [19:37] we've reported before on on you know some of these animal rights groups going out on the high seas and [19:41] trying to stop whaling groups or something there are a lot of these breeding and research facilities in the [19:47] u.s and you have seen more than one sort of jailbreak attempt of animals at these places [19:53] here just one of the largest that we've heard about in the standoff with police thank you so much [19:57] olivia thanks brad okay one more quick break when we come back they went from worst to first and [20:04] didn't even break a sweat which good thing because they would short circuit one last thing is next [20:09] and one last thing the nba playoff started this weekend sort of the nhl but i know the event you're [20:19] all asking about that's right the annual beijing half marathon happened yesterday of course the [20:26] reason everyone's been talking about the beijing half marathon is humans are not the only ones who [20:31] run this race that is the sound of a humanoid robot with arms and legs running upright for the [20:40] second year in a row humans ran this race on one side of the road while robots ran on the other [20:46] it's become a competition among engineers to create the fastest bipedal machine now last year they [20:53] didn't do so great most of the electronic competitors were surrounded by staff members [20:57] some of them had to be outfitted with handles because they kept falling over this year some [21:02] of the same stuff happened robots fail some that couldn't continue were sent off on stretchers as [21:08] if they just pulled a hammy but while last year's best robot took two hours and 40 minutes to cross [21:14] the finish line getting crushed by the humans this year's winner from a chinese smartphone maker named [21:19] honor finished the 13 mile race in just 50 minutes that is seven minutes faster than any human in [21:26] recorded history what's wild is that wasn't actually the fastest robot time of the day a remote controlled [21:34] robot ran the race a couple minutes faster but since the robot from honor was fully autonomous it got [21:39] the top prize and perhaps that is the lesson of technology in recent years when it fails it looks really bad [21:46] but within just a year those failures can become something that surpassed humans wildest dreams now [21:52] maybe you think that's good maybe you think that's scary all i know is when yesterday's winner crossed [21:57] the line seemingly at a full sprint it took a bunch of yards to slow itself down but even then that was [22:04] just because it was programmed to slow down it wasn't tired at all this is also where technology can be [22:12] used in lots of different ways like one of the advancements this team made was a liquid cooling system [22:17] that could reach the robot's arms and legs that could be applied to a lot of different circuitry [22:22] down the road so you build a thing to win the race who knows where it ends probably ends with [22:26] terminators for all i know many thanks to steven portnoy for holding down the fort last friday [22:31] i'm brad milkey i'll see you tomorrow