World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

The Maersk Tigris, a Marshall Islands-flagged commercial craft, was intercepted by the Iranian navy in the Strait of Hormuz.   We do not know what the Tigris  was carrying nor why the Iranians intercepted the vessel.  The US navy ordered the USS Farragut, a destroyer to follow the Tigris, but we do not know if the Farragut will follow it into Iranian waters.  As is obvious in the map below, the Strait of Hormuz is both narrow and highly contested.  The relationship between the US and the Marshall Islands is also somewhat opaque.  According to the US State Department:

After gaining military control of the Marshall Islands from Japan in 1944, the United States assumed administrative control of the Marshall Islands under United Nations auspices as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands following the end of World War II. The Marshall Islands signed a Compact of Free Association with the United States in 1983 and gained independence in 1986 with the Compact’s entry into force. From 1999-2003, the two countries negotiated an Amended Compact that entered into force in 2004.

The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) is a sovereign nation. While the government is free to conduct its own foreign relations, it does so under the terms of the Compact. The United States has full authority and responsibility for security and defense of the Marshall Islands, and the Government of the Marshall Islands is obligated to refrain from taking actions that would be incompatible with these security and defense responsibilities.

What we do not know is whether the US is obligated by the Compact to defend ships sailing under the Marshallese flag.  A very curious and dangerous situation.

The Greek economic situation has not improved in the slightest, and a much more serious deadline is approaching.  In June, the entire Greek government debt, estimated to be about 175% of the Greek GDP, will have to be renegotiated.  John Cassidy in the New Yorker has a very pessimistic view of how those negotiations will unfold.  The stubbornness of both sides is hard to fathom, particularly when the stakes are so high.