2-week ceasefire leaves Iran in control of Hormuz, exposes other remaining hot-spots

(Originally published Apr. 8 in “What in the World“) Guns keep blazing despite the two-week ceasefire agreement between Trump and Iran, with Iranian missiles flying toward Israel and its Gulf neighbors and Israel still launching airstrikes on Iran and southern Lebanon.

Perhaps more tellingly, the war has left Iran in a position to negotiate passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, with Tehran (and Trump) saying ships will have to pay tolls to traverse the vital passage. “For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran’s armed forces,” Iran’s foreign minister wrote. Iran’s regime, despite Israel’s success in decapitating it, remains in control and negotiating with Trump, which means that for Israel the war is far from over.

North Korea on Wednesday launched several short-range ballistic missiles into the Yellow Sea, the fourth and fifth such launches of ballistic missiles this year.

“The identity of [South Korea], the enemy state most hostile to [North Korea], can never change with any words or conduct,” said a senior official at North Korea’s foreign ministry, seemingly contradicting what many in the South saw as an olive branch from Pyongyang Tuesday, when North Korea described South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in uncharacteristically warm terms as “very fortunate and wise.”

Sweden is buying $180 million worth of new Tridon Mk2 air defense systems for Ukraine to knock down Russian missiles and drones. The donation is part of a €245 million weapons program for Ukraine announced by Denmark and Sweden in February.

The Mk2 is essentially an ack-ack gun mounted on a truck. It can fire up to 300 40 mm programmable shells a minute from a Bofors 40 Mk4 cannon at targets up to 12  kilometers away. The shells burst when the approach the target, creating a cloud of shrapnel that provides a more effective and much cheaper way to knock down incoming drones and missiles than an interceptor missile.