Level 1 — Absolute Beginner
The United States and Iran are in a war. It is a long war. It started more than six months ago.
On Saturday, President Trump said he has a big choice to make. He said Iran is weak now. He said Iran can choose the easy way or the hard way.
The United States has ships near Iran. The ships stop oil from leaving. Iran cannot sell its oil. Prices in Iran are very high.
Many people want the war to end soon. Mr. Trump said it may end after the election in November.
- war
- a fight between countries
- choice
- a time when you pick one thing
- weak
- not strong
- ship
- a big boat
- oil
- a thick liquid used for fuel
- sell
- to give something for money
- end
- to stop
- election
- a day when people vote
Level 2 — Elementary
President Trump said on Saturday that he has a decision to make about Iran. He said the country has been badly hurt by the war and now faces a choice between the easy way and the hard way.
Mr. Trump said 18 American soldiers and sailors have died since the war, called Operation Epic Fury, began more than six months ago. He also said Iran is almost ready to give up its plans for a nuclear weapon.
The White House said the American blockade has stopped Iranian oil exports completely. It said prices in Iran are rising by nearly 90 percent, which is hurting ordinary families.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the United States, not Iran, now controls the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said two more oil tankers were hit in the strait, and its money, the rial, kept losing value.
- decision
- a choice you make after thinking
- blockade
- a plan to stop ships from going in or out
- nuclear
- related to very powerful atomic energy or bombs
- exports
- goods sold to other countries
- inflation
- a general rise in prices
- tanker
- a ship that carries oil
- strait
- a narrow sea passage between two lands
- rial
- the money used in Iran
Level 3 — Intermediate
President Trump told reporters on Saturday that he has a decision to make on Iran, a country he described as decimated. In his words, Tehran now faces a choice between the easy way and the hard way. He insisted that Iran has virtually given up on building a nuclear weapon.
He said 18 American service members have been killed in Operation Epic Fury, which began more than six months ago. On Friday he had predicted that the war would end very soon, probably right after the midterm elections.
The White House argued that the naval blockade has stopped Iranian oil exports entirely and has pushed inflation close to 90 percent, crippling the economy. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Mr. Trump keeps all the options he needs on the table and called the blockade ironclad, claiming Washington, not Tehran, controls the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran, meanwhile, said that two more tankers were hit in the strait while the rial sank further. The claims come from the two governments themselves, and neither can easily be checked from outside.
- decimated
- destroyed or reduced to a small part of its former strength
- insisted
- said something firmly, even if others doubted it
- midterm elections
- US votes held halfway through a president's term
- naval
- connected with a country's navy
- crippling
- causing severe damage
- claim
- a statement that something is true without proof
- sank
- fell to a lower level or value
- verify
- to check that something is true
Level 4 — Advanced
President Trump said on Saturday that he faces a decision on Iran, a country he called decimated, and that Tehran must now pick between the easy way and the hard way. The framing is familiar, but it arrives with the war more than six months old and 18 American service members dead in Operation Epic Fury.
The administration's case rests on economic pressure. The White House says the naval blockade has halted Iranian crude exports entirely and driven inflation toward 90 percent, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, calling the blockade ironclad, insists that Washington rather than Tehran now controls the Strait of Hormuz and that Mr. Trump retains every option if Iran will not abandon its nuclear ambitions.
Yet the president has also signalled that he wants an exit. On Friday he said the conflict would end very soon, probably right after the midterms, which are about a month away. That timetable gives Iran an incentive to wait and gives critics ammunition to argue that the war is being run on a political clock.
On the other side, Iran International reported that two more tankers were struck in the strait while the rial slid further. Each government's figures serve its own narrative, so the accurate summary is narrower than either: a blockade that is biting, a waterway that is still dangerous, and a president who has not yet said which path he has chosen.
- framing
- the way an issue is presented to shape how people see it
- crude
- oil in its natural, unrefined form
- ironclad
- impossible to break or challenge
- ambitions
- strong wishes to achieve something
- timetable
- a planned schedule of when things will happen
- incentive
- something that motivates a person to act
- narrative
- a particular version of events
- waterway
- a river, strait or canal used by ships
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