China concerned after US action against Iranian freighter
China has criticized US actions in the Strait of Hormuz. “We are concerned about the US’s violent intervention against the ships in question,” said Foreign Office spokesman Guo Jiakun in Beijing. China hopes that the respective sides will behave responsibly and abide by the ceasefire agreement, he said.
China demanded that the “Window for Peace” should be used. In addition, conditions should be created for an early end to the war, said spokesman Guo.
Iran is probably attacking US warships with drones
According to the regime-affiliated Iranian news agency Tasnim, Iran is launching drone attacks on US warships in the Gulf of Oman. The background is the US attack on an Iranian container ship that was on its way to China.
According to President Donald Trump, the US Army fired on an Iranian cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman and took it under its control. The ship tried to bypass the US blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, Trump wrote on Sunday in his Truth Social online service. You can read more about the US shelling here.
Two people executed in Iran
In Iran, in the middle of the war, two people were executed again on charges of spying for Israel, among other things. “The death sentences against Mohammad Masum-Shahi and Hamed Walidi were carried out at dawn today,” the judicial website Misan Online reported on Monday. It said the two men were “members of a spy network with ties to the Mossad,” Israel’s secret service. No information was given as to when they were arrested.
As Misan continued, using Tehran’s language for Israel, the two men were convicted of “collaboration with enemy groups and the Zionist regime” and of “war against God” (Moharebeh). According to Sharia law, this is a crime punishable by death in Iran.
Authorities in Iran have carried out several executions since the war with the United States and Israel began on February 28. A two-week ceasefire has been in effect since April 8th and ends on Wednesday. According to foreign activists, only China has more executions than Iran.
Oil prices rise sharply – Strait of Hormuz closed again
The renewed closure of the Strait of Hormuz drove oil prices up by more than seven percent on Monday. A barrel (159 liters) of North Sea Brent rose in price by 7.26 percent to $96.94. The price of US light oil WTI rose by 7.24 percent to $89.92. The US and Iran accuse each other of violating a ceasefire by attacking ships. On Friday, oil prices had fallen by more than nine percent. Read more here.
