Good morning.
Senior Iranian officials tell Reuters they are intentionally trying to drive up oil prices to sway the US midterms.
The timing is not coincidental.
The actual tactics that they've been using, we're still trying to grapple with that, they've not really revealed much.
Then, your questions about the midterms answered, and what to know about this year's WNBA Finals.
It's Friday, October 16th.
I'm Yasmin Khan.
This is Apple News Today.
Iran is ramping up attacks on commercial ships in and around the Strait of Hormuz.
It's a targeted effort to keep energy prices high and hurt Republicans at the polls in just a few weeks.
I think what we're seeing is quite possibly one of the most pivotal moments, certainly for many decades,
that events very far off from the U.S. are having a huge bearing
upon the impacts and implications for the coming elections.
That's Jonathan Saul, a senior correspondent with Reuters covering the Middle East.
He spoke with two senior Iranian officials who confirmed that this is their strategy.
Many of Iran's attacks on commercial vessels since the war started in February have focused on the Strait of Hormuz,
which carried roughly a fifth of the global oil and gas supply before the war.
But lately, Saul says Tehran has been expanding its scope.
What we've noticed is an extension and expansion of attacks in areas where we previously hadn't seen any ships targeted.
So that would include waters, say roughly around 50 nautical miles from the coast of Qatar