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Welcome back to World Brief, where we\u2019re looking at the current status of the Strait of Hormuz<\/strong>, the reauthorization of a controversial U.S.<\/strong> surveillance tool, and calls for British <\/strong>Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign.<\/p>\n One of the world\u2019s busiest shipping lanes is supposedly back in business<\/a>. For weeks, Iranian forces have effectively stopped all traffic in the Strait of Hormuz\u2014through which one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil normally transits\u2014in response to U.S. and Israeli strikes. The resulting chaos has sparked an unprecedented global energy crisis<\/a> that raised crude costs and upended financial markets.<\/p>\n On Friday, though, the United States and Iran both announced that the strategic thoroughfare had been reopened. \u201cIran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again,\u201d U.S. President Donald Trump wrote<\/a> on Truth Social. \u201cIt will no longer be used as a weapon against the World!\u201d<\/p>\n Iran said the Strait of Hormuz was \u201ccompletely open\u201d to commercial vessels in line with the Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire in Lebanon, which went into effect at midnight on Friday. However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote<\/a> on X that the waterway would be open \u201cfor the remaining period of ceasefire\u201d\u2014not indefinitely. He did not specify whether this cease-fire is the 10-day Israel-Hezbollah truce or the U.S.-Iran deal, which is scheduled to end on April 21.<\/p>\n Trump, for his part, stressed in a separate post<\/a> on Friday that Hormuz\u2019s reopening was \u201cnot tied, in any way, to Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n Further confusion emerged<\/a> when Trump wrote that the U.S. blockade<\/a> of Iranian ports in the strait would remain in place. \u201cTHE NAVAL BLOCKADE WILL REMAIN IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT AS IT PERTAINS TO IRAN, ONLY, UNTIL SUCH TIME AS OUR TRANSACTION WITH IRAN IS 100% COMPLETE,\u201d Trump posted<\/a>.<\/p>\n It is unclear to what extent U.S. troops will enforce the blockade and what that will mean for global shipping. However, several Iranian state-affiliated news outlets have already condemned<\/a> Trump\u2019s statement, including the Tasnim news agency, which claimed<\/a> that Hormuz\u2019s reopening would be reversed if the U.S. blockade continued. On Wednesday, Tehran warned that it would retaliate against international shipping in the Middle East if the blockade remained in effect.<\/p>\n According to U.S. Central Command on Friday, the U.S. military has blocked 19 ships since the blockade went into effect on Monday. \u201cZERO vessels have evaded U.S. forces during the blockade,\u201d Centcom wrote<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n Still, global markets appear optimistic<\/a> about Hormuz\u2019s declared reopening. Brent crude fell more than 10 percent on Friday to below $90 per barrel, its lowest level in more than a month. West Texas Intermediate crude also fell more than 10 percent, hitting below $84. Meanwhile, financial markets expressed cautious enthusiasm, with the S&P 500 going up 1 percent during Friday morning trading.<\/p>\n Foreign leaders similarly welcomed<\/a> news of the strait\u2019s reopening during a meeting of some 50 countries and organizations in Paris on Friday. Yet many attendees, including co-hosts French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, continued to push for a lasting peace.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all demand the full, immediate, and unconditional reopening of the Strait of Hormuz by all parties,\u201d Macron said, with Starmer adding that the coalition is still planning an international mission to restore regional maritime security. Military planners are expected to convene in London next week.<\/p>\n U.S. spy tool extension. <\/strong>Both chambers in the U.S. Congress on Friday approved the short-term renewal<\/a> of a controversial espionage tool. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act permits the CIA, FBI, National Security Agency, and other government agencies to conduct electronic surveillance of non-U.S. persons outside the United States without a warrant. Although some U.S. officials have argued that this authority is necessary to combat security threats, others warn that Section 702\u2019s ability to gather data on Americans who communicate with foreign nationals encroaches on civil liberties.<\/p>\n Section 702, first established in 2008, was set to expire<\/a> on Monday. This week, Trump and Republican leaders pushed for an 18-month renewal. \u201cI am asking Republicans to UNIFY, and vote together on the test vote to bring a clean Bill to the floor,\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social. \u201cWe need to stick together.\u201d<\/p>\n However, late Thursday, several House Republicans broke ranks<\/a> to unveil a revised five-year extension. Both stopgap measures were ultimately rejected due to divisions within the party, delivering a key win for Democrats, who had condemned Republicans\u2019 efforts to push through a new extension in the middle of the night. Section 702 will now be continued until April 30.<\/p>\n Mandelson fallout. <\/strong>Starmer resisted calls on Friday to resign over new revelations concerning the appointment of former British diplomat Peter Mandelson<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last September, leaked emails revealed that Mandelson, the British ambassador to the United States at the time, had maintained close ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Starmer has since tried to survive the political fallout<\/a> by firing Mandelson, publicly apologizing to Epstein\u2019s victims, and launching a criminal investigation into Mandelson\u2019s potential sharing of government information with the disgraced financier.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Starmer also fired<\/a> Olly Robbins, the most senior civil servant in Britain\u2019s Foreign Office, after it emerged that the agency had granted clearances<\/a> to Mandelson despite him failing a top-secret security vetting process. Starmer said he was \u201cabsolutely furious\u201d that he was not informed of this issue, calling it \u201cunforgivable\u201d and vowing to \u201cset out all the relevant facts in true transparency\u201d to Parliament on Monday.<\/p>\n Yet opposition Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch argued<\/a> on Friday that Starmer\u2019s claims that he did not know were \u201ccompletely preposterous.\u201d \u201cThis story does not stack up. The prime minister is taking us for fools,\u201d Badenoch said. \u201cAll roads lead to a resignation.\u201d<\/p>\n Upcoming vote. <\/strong>Bulgaria is preparing to hold snap parliamentary elections<\/a> on Sunday, in what will be the country\u2019s eighth such vote in just five years. According to local polling published<\/a> on Friday, nearly 50 percent of Bulgarians hope to avoid a governing coalition by having just one party obtain a majority in the National Assembly.<\/p>\n Bulgaria has a history of failed coalition governments<\/a>. In January, then-Bulgarian President Rumen Radev called for snap elections after leading parties were unable to secure a mandate to replace the previous administration, which resigned just minutes before the legislature was set to vote on a no-confidence motion following widespread anti-corruption protests.<\/p>\n Radev, a pro-Russian lawmaker, is running again\u2014this time for prime minister. Local polling predicts his Progressive Bulgaria party to win 34.2 percent<\/a> of the vote, far ahead of the second-place GERB-UDF, a center-right group led by former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. However, this would still not be enough to secure a single-party majority, thereby requiring Radev to try to form another coalition. Already, though, Radev has ruled out working with the GERB-UDF as well as another major opposition party, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms.<\/p>\n Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party lost the country\u2019s parliamentary elections on Sunday for the first time since 2010. Orban was also elected prime minister once before his 16-year rule. When was that?<\/p>\n A. 1984 South Korean authorities safely captured<\/a> an escaped 2-year-old wolf named Neukgu on Friday after he broke out of Daejeon\u2019s O-World zoo nine days ago. Neukgu\u2019s daring escapade prompted a sweeping search-and-rescue operation involving drones, police, emergency workers, and veterinarians. Ultimately, Neukgu was found on a hill near an expressway and brought back to O-World\u2014to cheers on social media for his safe return.<\/p>\n B. 1998<\/p>\n Fidesz suffered a crushing, historic defeat despite rigging the electoral playing field to its advantage\u2014offering lessons to Republicans and Democrats in the United States as midterm elections approach, Thomas Carothers writes<\/a>.<\/p>\n To take the rest of FP\u2019s weekly international news quiz, click here<\/a>, or sign up<\/a> to be alerted when a new one is published.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nOpen \u2026 With Conditions?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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