US attacks Iran’s mine-laying boats in strait of Hormuz as tensions rise over oil | First Thing

First Thing: US attacks Iran’s mine-laying boats in strait of Hormuz as tensions rise over oil Iran’s IRGC has said it will not allow even ‘one litre’ to leave the region if US-Israeli attacks continue. Plus, how gen Z women are conquering country music Good morning. The US military has said it attacked and destroyed 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels near the strait of Hormuz amid reports that Iran has begun laying explosive devices in the narrow waterway, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil passes. Citing intelligence sources, CNN on Tuesday reported that Iran had laid a few dozen mines in the strait in recent days and had the capability of laying hundreds more. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said this week it would not allow even “one litre of oil” to leave the region if US-Israeli attacks continued. The Tehran regime has weaponized the strait of Hormuz , which is just 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, in response to the US-Israel attacks. While Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf producers have built pipelines that can bypass the waterway, these routes only carry a fraction of the region’s export capacity. Hundreds of tankers are waiting after the IRGC threatened to “set ablaze” any vessel using the trade route. What have we heard about Iran’s new supreme leader? Mojtaba Khamenei, is “safe and sound” according to Yousef Pezeshkian, the son of Iran’s president. The comments came amid speculation about supreme leader’s health and whereabouts, as he has not engaged with the public since he succeeded his late father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, three days ago. The low-paid Filipino workers caught up in the war on Iran Thousands of low-paid Filipino workers are stuck in vulnerable positions across the Middle East after being caught up in the war in Iran. There are 2.4 million people from the Philippines living across the Middle East, having moved to gain higher wages and support their families back home. Many now find themselves und...