Iran Says No Plans For 2nd Talks After US Seizure Of Cargo Ship, Pakistanis Contradict, Oil Prices Climb

 

Summary

• Hormuz latest: Just three ships have crossed in the past 12 hours, shipping data indicates.

• Iran's military after Sunday's US seizure of Iran-flagged cargo ship: will "take the necessary action against the US military"

• Vance will try again in Pakistan, though still unclear whether Iranians will join - Pakistanis say yes, but timeline is fluid.

• Xi to Saudi crown prince important phone call: "the first time the Chinese leader had called for the reopening of the strategically vital waterway."

Strait of Hormuz traffic returns to normal by end of April?
Yes 28% · No 72%
View full market & trade on Polymarket

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Shipping Traffic Halt Latest

Al Jazeera and others have written the strait is at a virtual standstill currently, after the major Sunday incident which saw the US Navy intercept, fire upon, and board an uncooperative ship which was trying to pass the US-imposed blockade. It was an Iranian-flagged ship which was forcibly stopped in the Gulf of Oman, where some dozen US warships have been patrolling.

Just three ships have crossed in the past 12 hours, shipping data indicates. The same publication records that "Oil products tanker Nero, which is under UK sanctions, has left the Gulf and is sailing through the strait, according to satellite analysis from data analytics specialists SynMax and tracking data from the Kpler platform." And: "Two other ships – a chemical tanker and a liquefied natural gas tanker – have also sailed into the Gulf through the critical waterway separately, the data showed."

Reuters: Senior Iranian official says positive efforts have been started by Pakistan to end the US blockade and ensure Iran's participation in talks.

On Monday a spokesman for Iran's military reiterated a threat to "take the necessary action against the US military" after the Sunday US interdiction. He described that that Iran's military exercised restraint over the incident, not taking immediate action, in order to protect the ship's crew, but will act "once it is ensured that the lives of the families and crew of the vessel attacked by the United States are safeguarded." Apparently the crew's family members are accompanying them aboard the vessel, the statement suggests.

Important Xi Jinping Statement on Hormuz

China's President Xi Jinping on Monday demanded the uninterrupted passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz in a phone call with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, state news agency Xinhua reports. He urged the normalization of shipping traffic after about 50 days of disruption which obviously and significantly impacts Chinese oil imports.

"Normal navigation through the Strait of Hormuz should be maintained, this is in the shared interests of regional countries and the international community," Xi said. He called for an immediate, comprehensive ceasefire and insisted disputes be resolved through political and diplomatic means.

South China Morning Post observes that it was "the first time the Chinese leader had called for the reopening of the strategically vital waterway, which has been repeatedly blockaded since US-Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28." China imported 5.86 million tons of crude oil from Saudi Arabia, down 10% from February, according to customs data released Monday.

Second Pakistan Talks Imminent? 

After the Sunday dramatic US seizure of the Iranian-flagged ship, Iran's Foreign Ministry has said the country currently no plans regarding a new round of talks, however, it also said it is reviewing the latest Washington proposal related to a second round of Pakistan-hosted talks. With that, by Monday it reasserted that the transfer of enriched uranium out of the country or into US custody has never been on the table. Tehran is insisting that it won't be transferred anywhere.

This firm stance is after President dramatically shifted his tone over the weekend from strangely and surprisingly somewhat praising Iran's leadership (with statements such as the US could work with them and possibly trust them) to once up again ramping up threats, posting "No more Mr. Nice Guy" on social media. 

Currently there are conflicting reports on whether the Iranian side will actually be there for reported possible Tuesday talks. Pakistan officials say the timing of the talks remains fluid. According to the latest via Associated Press Iranian authorities have expressed willingness to send a delegation to Islamabad, citing two Pakistan officials. The officials reports "cautious optimism that delegations from both Iran and the United States could travel to Islamabad."

Some confused and conflicting signaling, likely purposely so...

The NY Times has declared that JD Vance will try again:

The vice president is scheduled to lead an American delegation back to Islamabad, Pakistan, this week for another round of in-person negotiations with Iran after failing to secure a deal just over a week ago.

Whether the talks even occur seems in dispute. Hours after President Trump announced the trip on Sunday, Iranian state media said that Tehran had not yet agreed to any such meeting. Later, Mr. Trump announced that a Naval destroyer had attacked an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that tried to skirt the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz.

President Trump has been threatening major escalation should there be no negotiated settlement, at a moment the two sides' position are very distant especially on the nuclear issue.

Zero Sum Positions on Nuclear Issue

The problem, according to University of Chicago Professor Robert Pape is the zero sum logic of it all. "In a matter of a day, the system snapped back to escalation," he wrote over the weekend. "This is not a story about fragile diplomacy or poor sequencing. It is a story about zero-sum conflict, where the core issues cannot be divided, traded, or deferred without forcing one side to accept a strategic loss—a direct contest over relative power."

"At the center of the war is a fact that cannot be negotiated away: Iran either retains a nuclear capability on the threshold of weapons, or it does not," Pape continues. "There is no stable middle ground that satisfies both sides."

And more from the analysis: "The same zero-sum logic applies—more visibly and more immediately—to the Strait of Hormuz. Before the war, Hormuz functioned as a global commons, carrying roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. That assumption is now broken. Iran has demonstrated that it can shift from disruption to conditional control, allowing passage under its terms while restricting or denying access when it chooses. The United States, in response, is attempting to preserve open navigation through blockade and interdiction. But these positions cannot be reconciled."

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/iran-says-no-plans-talks-after-us-seizure-cargo-ship-pakistanis-contradict-oil-prices

Empty NYC preschools cost taxpayers nearly $100M in rent alone

 New York City has shelled out nearly $100 million in taxpayer funds to rent more than two dozen buildings that were meant to house preschools — but have yet to open half a decade later, The Post has learned. 

The city is still footing the rent and utility bills for the 28 facilities — a $99.3 million-and-counting boondoggle blamed on the “terrible execution” of former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s ambitious universal preschool expansion.

“I don’t think it’s corruption. It’s incompetence,” a former city Department of Education official told The Post.

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The location of an unopened preschool at 129 Van Brunt St. in Brooklyn. Dozens of Big Apple preschool sites have been sitting empty for years, costing taxpayers millions of dollars.NYPost

The de Blasio-era scramble to construct 47 “initiative projects” for the then-mayor’s “3-K For All” pet program — giving free full-day care for 3-year-olds — resulted in the slew of “phantom” preschools that remain devoid of students nearly five years after he left office.

The ex-DOE official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the rush job was done without considering whether the chosen buildings were even in neighborhoods with a demand for the free seats.

The source said officials were “very disappointed” in the outcome, “given there’s such a significant need for pre-K seats.”

As The Post previously reported, the de Blasio administration earmarked $400 million to build or renovate existing buildings — for a total of nearly 3,800 3-K seats across 28 sites — that were meant to open between August 2020 and September 2025.

A handful of the intended 3-K buildings have since been repurposed as temporary homes for charter schools, preschool learners and even a DOE “welcome center” on Staten Island, but the majority remain totally empty — and none are offering 3-K seats.

The scramble to get the program up and running resulted in bizarre outcomes, such as an unopened 3-K center on Union Turnpike in Queens — estimated to cost $10.8 million — placed in a section of the city that already had trouble filling existing early childhood education seats, the former schools official said.

“They realized [afterward that] it wasn’t a good location. … If they didn’t think the need was there, why did they pick the site in the first place?” the source said — adding the city is still shelling out a half-million dollars in annual rent to a private landlord over it.

The eastern Queens site is in the middle of a heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, the source noted — rendering the location a difficult space for a public preschool either way, as devout parents would likely opt for a religious setting.

De Blasio blamed his successor, Mayor Eric Adams, for the pre-K kerfuffle, arguing that “during my administration, we never had a problem filling Pre-K and 3-K seats because we did lots of parent-friendly outreach.

“Sadly, the Adams administration ended those efforts and took a step backwards on early childhood education,” de Blasio told The Post, adding he believes that demand will increase “substantially” under Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Adams, however, argued he “inherited a system with thousands of empty early childhood seats,” and chose to prioritize “stabilizing providers and increasing enrollment, rather than simply expanding capacity.”

Mamdani announced last week that the city would finally open seven 3K locations in the fall — including six of the long-vacant sites — as his administration moves forward with its own universal child care expansion.

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A still-shuttered planned new preschool on Union Turnpike in Queens is costing millions of dollars.

Larry Mottola, owner of a hair salon near the Union Turnpike facility, said he was offered a walkthrough of the site when it was completed in 2022 — and bemoaned the fact that it kept racking up bills but never opened.

“They had beautiful classrooms, a stainless steel kitchen [and] there’s a beautiful playground around back,” he said.

“It’s bothersome, [that] they would waste that kind of money for four years.”

Some of the other buildings chosen to house 3-K programs were located near already existing centers.

For instance, the one on Union Turnpike is roughly a quarter-mile from a 3-K center that has nearly 30 vacant slots. Another vacant site is located within blocks of four existing 3-K centers in Rego Park, Queens.

An internal probe into the vacant preschools was launched after the realization, the former schools official said.

A DOE rep declined to comment to The Post on the status of the report.

“Department of Education funds are getting wasted when there is great need in other communities,” the source said.

The situation has enraged parents in areas with skyrocketing demand for the free, full-day education programs for 3-year-olds — including some neighborhoods where 3-K waitlists are more than 100 students deep.

“It feels like a real misstep that we’re not even utilizing the space that’s being paid for,” fumed Jessica Setton.

The Brooklyn mom has been petitioning the city to open its planned 3-K center on Van Brunt Street, along the Columbia Street waterfront, after The Post first exposed its years-long vacancy last month.

“De Blasio had good intention, terrible execution,” she said. “Now is a great opportunity for Mamdani … [to] correct the wrongs of the past.”

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The Union Turnpike school is one of more than two dozen “phantom” preschools sitting empty.

Mamdani — who has dubbed de Blasio his favorite living Big Apple mayor — appears to be making moves to clean up the mess, with his announcement last week and one earlier this year about the long-awaited opening of one empty site on the Upper East Side, which followed a Post investigation into the empty $15 million schoolhouse.

Parents across the city have been urging the mayor to open more preschools, citing soaring competition that prompts some families to shell out tens of thousands of dollars on private care.

“The people of the city see it as a priority. … Making the requisite spend to open the schools should have been more of a priority,” said parent Zach Hetrick, who lives on the same block as the 129 Van Brunt St. site, where his daughter would have been eligible.

Instead of enrolling in the nearby 3-K program, Hetrick must trek with his tot over a mile away on foot, or a 15-minute bus ride “if it comes on time.”

Taxpayers have spent $5.8 million just on construction for the vacant 129 Van Brunt St. site since 2022, according to a Post review of financial records.

The city has spent nearly the same amount on rent and energy costs on the empty site alone — but without any indication of when the school will open in the future.

Meanwhile, the nearest active 3-K program near Van Brunt Street saw 79 applications vying for just 12 seats last year, while other popular sites — such as Kinder Prep Montessori in Brooklyn Heights — had as many as 110 applicants fighting for 13 seats.

Despite the obvious demand in the neighborhood, a DOE rep bizarrely said in August that, “based on current enrollment data and application trends, we do not see sufficient unmet demand in this area to support the opening of a new site at this time.”

The Adams admin told parents inquiring about the Van Brunt Street site last summer that it was not issuing procurements to open that facility or any others.

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An internal city Education Department probe into the vacant preschools was launched, but an agency rep declined to comment on the status of the report.NYPost

Setton, whose Change.org petition to open the Van Brunt Street preschool has yielded hundreds of signatures, railed, “You have schools that need space, you have a city law that says we need to reduce class sizes … and yet we have empty buildings.

“As a taxpayer and as a parent, it drives me insane,” she said.

A Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, site had 148 applications for roughly a dozen spots, while a nearby “3-K For All” location on Atlantic Avenue sat completely vacant for years — despite the city shelling out $5 million in rent since 2021.

Similarly, in Manhattan, one existing 3-K center saw a whopping 166 tots apply for just 15 seats last year, while an empty city-leased site at 1972 Broadway cost taxpayers over $6.8 million in rent and energy costs.

That site — estimated to cost a total $21.98 million — recently opened to a handful of special needs students, but the planned 225-seat 3-K center in the building remains vacant.

A 3-K center at 1010 Third Ave. in Manhattan cost the city another $6 million in leases to date — a staggering $255,000 each month — but remains shuttered, while the nearest opened program saw 218 students compete for 15 seats.

Other unopened 3-K sites in Queens — like those at 18-31 131st St. in College Point, 98-05 63 Drive in Rego Park, and 63-57 Fresh Pond Road in Ridgewood, which is currently a Success Academy Charter Schools location before the city is set to move in this summer — similarly have more than a hundred applications for nearby preschools competing for just a fraction of seats.

A DOE rep told The Post the department is “continuously evaluating all vacant sites for the most responsible use based on site readiness and community need” and that “all plans will be shared publicly once timelines and approvals are confirmed.”

Setton said, “This is really a story of parents who see a need, and we want the city to correct the ills of the past.

“I pay my taxes for schools, so here’s a school. Now let’s open it.” 

https://nypost.com/2026/04/20/us-news/empty-nyc-preschools-cost-taxpayers-nearly-100m-in-rent-alone/

'EU: There are currently no jet fuel shortages'

 European Commission spokesperson Eva Hrncirova said on Monday that there are currently no jet fuel shortages, although the Middle East situation is "not ideal." Her comment follows warnings by International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol, who said last week that Europe has around six weeks of jet fuel left if the energy crisis continues, while the International Air Transport Association predicted that European airlines could start canceling flights by late May.

Hrncirova said that the European Union has a "significant capacity" to refine crude oil and produce jet fuel, adding that the EU is"preparing for possible actions, but everything depends on the development of the situation." She also noted that the EU's energy package, which wil be presented on Wednesday, will address "different elements that are connected to the current crisis."

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/EU:-There-are-currently-no-jet-fuel-shortages/66104473

The Top Trade Partners Of Every European Country

Germany sits at the center of Europe’s trade network, but it is not the only global force shaping the continent’s economy.

This map, via Visual Capitalist's Gabriel Cohen, highlights the top trading partner of each European country based on International Monetary Fund data for Q1-Q3 2025.

Europe’s nearly $30 trillion economy is diverse and spans sectors such as energy, manufacturing, and agriculture, yet nearly half of all European countries rely on the same major trading partner for their imports and exports.

Germany: The Center of Europe

Germany is the top trade partner for 19 European countries, more than six times as many as the next closest countries, which each count just three.

This dominance reflects Germany’s central role in European manufacturing, supply chains, and intra-EU trade.

The table below shows how many European countries rely on each nation as their top trade partner, highlighting Germany’s outsized role in the region.

The Dutch, French, and Italian economies, among others, are closely linked to Germany, which is a major industrial player and consumer of primary goods ranging from crude oil to agricultural products. German cars and other high-value exports, meanwhile, have found success across European markets, especially within the 27-member European Union.

The following table shows each European country’s largest trade partner.

While Germany is Europe’s trade giant, its own largest trade partner is the Netherlands. The two countries have an annual trading relationship worth more than $200 billion, marked by extensive economic integration and joint supply chains.

The Netherlands, home to Europe’s largest seaport at Rotterdam, is also the main trade partner of neighboring Belgium, with which it forms part of the Benelux union.

Europe’s Other Top Trading Partners

Many European countries trade most with their largest neighboring country. For example, Malta’s main trade partner is Italy. Portugal’s top trade partner is Spain, while Spain’s is France.

The Baltics take this a step further: Latvia’s largest trade partner is Lithuania, while Lithuania’s is Poland. Estonia’s main trade partner is Finland, while Finland’s is Sweden. Poland and Sweden, in turn, maintain their largest trade relationships with Germany.

Some clear exceptions emerge. As the world’s largest economy, the U.S. is the primary trade partner of Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland.

The Rise of China to the East

While Germany dominates within Europe, China is expanding its influence along the continent’s eastern edge.

It is now the top trade partner for Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey, displacing traditional European partners such as Germany in some cases.

Chinese exports to Russia and Ukraine play a major role in the country’s relationship with both Eastern European nations. Beijing also imports significant amounts of primary goods from the two warring countries, including food and mineral products from Ukraine as well as hydrocarbons from Russia.

https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/these-are-top-trade-partners-every-european-country#google_vignette

China expresses worries over seized Iranian ship

 Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a press briefing on Monday that Beijing is concerned over the latest news that the United States seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship, calling it a "forced interception."

"We hope relevant parties will act responsibly, abide by the ceasefire agreement, avoid provoking conflicts and exacerbating tensions, and create the necessary conditions for the resumption of normal navigation in the Strait of Hormuz," the spokesperson commented.

Following Washington's actions, the Iranian army was reported to have launched an attack against US ships.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/China-expresses-worries-over-seized-Iranian-ship/66101121

Pakistan hopes to hold new talks on Tuesday

 Pakistani authorities are preparing to host a new round of ceasefire negotiations between the United States and Iran this week, intensifying diplomatic contacts with both Washington and Tehran, the Associated Press reported on Monday.

According to the news outlet, which cited sources with knowledge of the matter, Pakistan aims to ensure that the negotiations start "as soon as Thursday," when the current ceasefire is set to expire.

In addition, US President Donald Trump announced that Vice President JD Vance will not travel to Pakistan over security concerns.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Pakistan-hopes-to-hold-new-talks-on-Tuesday/66101127