Level 1 — Absolute Beginner

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow door of water near Iran. Very many oil ships go through this door every day. Right now it is a dangerous place.

Iran says four oil ships went into a part of the sea where ships are not allowed to go. The ships hit mines in the water. A mine is a bomb that waits under the sea. The four ships are burning now. Two other ships had to stop and go back.

The United States is not happy. President Trump says he wants to do something big. But he also says he has no plan to attack today.

Other countries want the fighting to stop. People from Qatar are talking to both sides. They hope the two governments will meet again in a few days.

a strait

A narrow line of sea between two pieces of land.

a tanker

A very big ship that carries oil or gas.

a mine

A bomb that sits in the water or the ground and waits.

to burn

To be on fire.

dangerous

Able to hurt or kill you.

to attack

To use weapons against a place or a person.

a government

The group of people who run a country.

to stop

To end something, or to not go on.

Level 2 — Elementary

Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced on state television that four oil tankers had entered a part of the sea south of the Strait of Hormuz where ships are forbidden to sail. The Guards said the four tankers struck naval mines, were destroyed and were still burning. They also said that two other ships were stopped before they could pass, and that their forces shot down a drone.

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the busiest sea routes in the world. A large share of the world's oil travels through it, so anything that happens there changes the price of fuel in countries far away. Oil had reached about 118 dollars a barrel on Friday. By Thursday morning it had fallen back to roughly 93 dollars, because traders believed an immediate American attack was less likely.

On Wednesday President Trump told Fox News that the United States has to do something large, and he spoke about a heavy hit. He repeated that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. On election night, however, he told the Financial Times that he had no immediate plans to order new attacks. American officials then told the news site Axios that the military is finishing its preparations in case major fighting begins.

Iran is not backing down. Its supreme leader said in a written statement that anyone who expects American policy to change is seriously mistaken. At the same time, mediators from Qatar are trying to put a draft agreement in front of both governments, and they hope direct talks could restart within days. Iran wants the naval blockade lifted, sanctions removed and frozen money returned before it reopens the strait.

forbidden

Not allowed by a rule or a law.

a naval mine

An explosive device placed in the sea to damage ships.

a drone

An aircraft with no pilot inside it.

a barrel

The unit used to measure and sell oil, about 159 litres.

a trader

A person who buys and sells things such as oil or shares.

a mediator

Someone who helps two sides that disagree to talk to each other.

a blockade

The use of ships or soldiers to stop goods going in or out of a place.

sanctions

Punishments one country uses against another, often by stopping trade.

Level 3 — Intermediate

Iran's Revolutionary Guards used state television on Wednesday to deliver one of the harshest claims of the war so far: four oil tankers that attempted to pass through what Tehran calls a prohibited corridor south of the Strait of Hormuz had struck naval mines, had been destroyed and were still burning. Two further vessels, the Guards said, were intercepted and turned back, and a drone was shot down. Independent confirmation of the tankers' identities was not immediately available, which is typical of a waterway that commercial shipping has largely abandoned.

The economic signal was immediate and, at first glance, counter-intuitive. Brent crude had spiked towards 118 dollars a barrel on Friday as traders priced in the possibility of a prolonged closure. By Thursday morning it had slid back to roughly 93 dollars. The fall had less to do with the burning tankers than with a single sentence from Washington: President Trump told the Financial Times on election night that he had no immediate plans to order fresh attacks, and markets read that as a reprieve.

That reading sits awkwardly beside everything else coming out of Washington. In a Fox News interview the president said the United States has to do something large and spoke of a heavy hit, while insisting that Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon. American officials, speaking to Axios, said the military is in the final stages of preparing for the possibility of major combat operations. The United States had already struck Qeshm Island on Tuesday, a raid Iran answered by claiming it had destroyed an American MQ-1 drone there.

Tehran, for its part, is projecting immovability. Iran's supreme leader issued a written statement saying that anyone expecting a shift in American policy is seriously mistaken, and the country's security chief described the midterm results in the United States as a strategic defeat for the president. Yet diplomacy has not collapsed. Qatari mediators are trying to secure both capitals' backing for a draft deal that could restart direct talks within days. Iran's conditions have not moved: an end to the naval blockade, relief from sanctions on its oil sales, and the release of frozen funds before the strait reopens.

a corridor

A narrow route or passage that traffic is expected to follow.

to intercept

To stop something or someone travelling from one place to another.

counter-intuitive

The opposite of what you would naturally expect.

to spike

To rise very sharply and suddenly.

a reprieve

A delay or temporary escape from something bad that was expected.

immovability

A refusal to change position or opinion.

a raid

A short, sudden military attack on a place.

relief

The easing or removal of a burden, such as a debt or a sanction.

Level 4 — Advanced

The claim arrived with the theatrical precision that has characterised Tehran's messaging throughout this war. On Wednesday Iran's Revolutionary Guards told state television that four oil tankers had ventured into a prohibited corridor south of the Strait of Hormuz, had detonated naval mines, had been destroyed, and were, in the Guards' phrasing, still burning. Two additional vessels were intercepted and turned back; a drone was claimed as well. That none of the tankers could be independently identified says less about the credibility of the announcement than about the state of the waterway itself, which underwriters and charterers have quietly deserted.

What followed was a lesson in how markets price political sentences rather than physical events. Brent crude had surged towards 118 dollars a barrel on Friday on the assumption of a protracted closure; by Thursday morning it had retreated to roughly 93, having briefly dipped below 100 dollars for the first time since early October. The proximate cause was not the mines but an interview: the president's remark to the Financial Times, delivered on election night, that he had no immediate intention of ordering new strikes. Traders chose to treat that as the operative signal and discounted everything around it.

Around it, however, the signals run the other way. In a Fox News appearance the president declared that the United States has to do something large, invoked a heavy hit, and restated the absolute condition that Iran will never possess a nuclear weapon. American officials briefing Axios described a military in the closing phase of preparation for major combat operations. Tuesday's strike on Qeshm Island, answered by Iranian claims of a downed MQ-1, had already demonstrated that the administration's tactical appetite has not diminished even as its rhetoric about timing has softened. Domestic politics now intrudes as well: the president has conceded that the war contributed to his party's midterm defeat, while adding that he would make the same choice again.

Tehran's posture is one of calculated immobility. The supreme leader's written statement warning that anyone anticipating a change in American policy is seriously mistaken was addressed as much to his own constituencies as to Washington, and the security establishment has framed the American election result as a strategic defeat inflicted by Iranian endurance. Beneath that rhetoric, Qatari mediators continue to shuttle a draft text between the two capitals, with the ambition of resuming direct negotiations within days. The sequencing remains the obstacle: Iran insists that the naval blockade end, that sanctions on its oil exports be relieved and that frozen assets be released before the strait reopens, which is precisely the order of concessions Washington has so far refused to accept.

theatrical

Deliberately dramatic, staged for the effect it will have on an audience.

to detonate

To cause an explosive device to explode.