U.S. authorities seized more than $1 billion worth of cocaine Tuesday from a ship at a Philadelphia port, calling it one of the largest drug busts in American history. 

The U.S. attorney’s office in Philadelphia announced the massive bust on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon, saying law enforcement agents seized about 16.5 tons (15 metric tons) of cocaine from a large ship at the Packer Marine Terminal. Members of the crew were arrested and face federal charges.

The drug seizure is the latest in a series of large cocaine busts along the East Coast. In a March bust in Philadelphia, drug dogs sniffed out 1,185 pounds (538 kilograms) of cocaine worth about $38 million — at that time the city’s largest seizure of the drug in more than two decades. 

In February, customs agents seized 3,200 pounds (1,451 kilograms) at the Port of New York and New Jersey with a street value estimated at $77 million. That was the largest cocaine bust at the ports since 1994.

Television footage of the seized ship in Philadelphia showed its name as MSC Gayane. Online ship trackers said it sails under the flag of Liberia and arrived in Philadelphia after 5 a.m. Monday.

Carla Babb, Wayne Lee and Nike Ching contributed to this report.

STATE DEPARTMENT/PENTAGON — U.S. military officials are insisting all evidence points to Iran for a series of attack on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, warning Tehran is attempting to send a “very powerful signal” even as the President Donald Trump described the attacks as “very minor.”
 
The latest warning from top military officials comes a day after the Pentagon released photos alleging to show Iran’s Revolutionary Guards removing an unexploded limpet mine from a Japanese-owned tanker.
 
Some have raised doubts the photos and video show conclusive evidence to tie Tehran to the attacks, but the vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff pushed back Tuesday, saying only Iran could have pulled off such an operation.
 
“Getting alongside a vessel under the cover of darkness to attach a mine, underway, is not an insignificant effort,” Gen. Paul Selva told reporters during an appearance in Washington.
 
“It wasn’t done by an untrained, unsophisticated group of people. It was done by a military trained and capable force,” he added. “The evidence points to Iran. And the fact that they were able to quickly and safely remove a mine from a side of a ship would indicate it was of their own design.”
 
Selva also acknowledged the danger of rising tensions in the region, even as the United States prepares to deploy another 1,000 troops to help protect U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, currently helping in the effort to wipe out remnants of the Islamic State terror group.
 
“The risks of miscalculation are real,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff vice chair said, noting that the U.S. has sent warnings to Iran through Iraq and the Swiss embassy in Tehran.
 
“We want them to be clear eyed in whatever it is they are planning,” Selva said. “If they directly engage U.S. forces or they directly engage U.S. interests or citizens in the region…we will respond.”

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday there is “strong evidence” that Iran was behind the tanker attacks, and she also warned Iran of the consequences if violates the 2015 international nuclear deal. Speaking in Berlin at a news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Merkel urged a peaceful solution to tensions in the Persian Gulf.

But in an interview with Time magazine on Monday, President Trump downplayed concerns over the alleged Iranian attacks on the Norwegian and Japanese oil tankers.
 
“So far, it’s been very minor,” the president said, casting doubt over the likelihood the U.S. would go to war over such provocations.
 
“I would certainly go over nuclear weapons,” Trump said when asked what could precipitate war with Iran, “and I would keep the other a question mark.”  
 
Iran has denied any involvement on the attacks against the oil tankers but announced Monday it would cease complying with the global agreement that prevents it from making nuclear weapons.
 
Relations between the U.S. and Iran began to deteriorate in May of 2018 when Trump pulled the U.S. out of the international pact under which Tehran agreed to curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
 
Trump then reinstated and extended tough economic sanctions, leaving European and other partners in the deal struggling to keep Iran in compliance.
 
U.S. military officials say it is clear Iran is feeling the pressure.
 
“Iran is lashing out,” Selva said. “The pressure is on.”
 
“The relief to that pressure is the Iranians come to the table [to negotiate],” he added.
 
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Tuesday arrived at U.S. Central Command for a series of briefings on the latest with Iran.  He is also scheduled to meet separately with European Union policy chief Federica Mogherini, a leading supporter of the deal.
 
On Monday, White House National Security Council spokesperson Garrett Marquis called Iran’s plan to surpass an internationally agreed limit on its stock of low-enriched uranium “nuclear blackmail.”
   
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Monday on state television Tehran does not seek conflict and that U.S. efforts to isolate his country have failed.
 
“Iran will not wage war against any nation,” Rouhani said. “Despite all of the Americans’ efforts in the region and their desire to cut off our ties with all of the world and their desire to keep Iran secluded, they have been unsuccessful.”
    
Trump had called the 2015 agreement “horrible” and said he would like to negotiate a new one. But the United Nations atomic watchdog agency says Iran has continued to meet terms of the 2015 pact. While Washington has pulled out of the deal, the other signatories have not.

 

The United States says the world should not yield to nuclear extortion by Iran.  Tehran announced Monday that it expects to breach the limit of 300 kilograms of uranium production, set by a 2015 international deal, by June 27. The Trump administration abandoned that deal and imposed tough sanctions against Iran last year, angering Iran’s leaders. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports on the most recent tensions between the United States and Iran.

VOA’s Carla Babb  contributed to this report.

The Pentagon has released new photographs it says are more proof that Iran attacked two foreign oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week.

The pictures show what the U.S. says are Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces taking an unexploded mine off the side of the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous tanker. Another shot shows where the mine had been attached.

Other pictures show a large hole in the Courageous that the Pentagon says was likely caused by another mine.

Press photographs taken after Thursday’s attacks showed a Norwegian tanker on fire, sending thick black smoke into the sky.

“Iran is responsible for the attack based on video evidence and the resources and proficiency needed to quickly remove the unexploded limpet mine,” a Pentagon statement accompanying the photos said.

Iran has not reacted to the new pictures, but has denied involvement in the tanker attacks, calling the claims “ridiculous” and “dangerous.”

Monday afternoon, Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan announced the deployment of about 1,000 more troops to the Middle East for what he said were”defensive purposes.” 

“The recent Iranian attacks validate the reliable, credible intelligence we have received on hostile behavior by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region,” Shanahan said in a statement.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif  has said the timing of the attacks is “suspicious,” because a Japanese tanker was hit while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in Tehran seeking to defuse U.S.-Iran tensions.

‘Nuclear blackmail’

Earlier Monday, the U.S. called Iran’s plan to surpass an internationally agreed limit on its stock of low-enriched uranium “nuclear blackmail.” 

“President [Donald] Trump has made it clear that he will never allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons. The regime’s nuclear blackmail must be met with increased international pressure,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Garrett Marquis said.

Top State Department officials urge the international community not to yield to Iran’s “nuclear extortion.” 

“We continue to call on the Iranian regime not to obtain a nuclear weapon, to abide by their commitments to the international community,” spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus told reporters. She called Iran’s announcement “unfortunate” but not surprising.  

The U.S. government’s comments followed Tehran’s announcement that it would soon surpass the limit on the amount of enriched uranium it is allowed to keep under the 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers. 

French President Emmanuel Macron said he regrets the Iranian announcement, urging Tehran “to behave in a way that is patient and responsible.” Britain said if Iran exceeds the nuclear limits it would consider “all options.”

Britain and France signed the deal with Iran, along with China, Germany, Russia, and the United States.

U.S. sanctions

Iran’s nuclear agency spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said on state television Monday, “The countdown to pass the 300 kilograms reserve of enriched uranium has started and in 10 days time [June 27] … we will pass this limit.”

But he said Iran would be open to going back to observing the limit if it gets help from other signatories to the agreement in circumventing U.S. sanctions on its vital oil industry.

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran are escalating more than a year after Trump pulled the U.S. out of the nuclear agreement and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

President Hassan Rouhani announced last month Iran would stop observing restrictions on its stocks of enriched uranium and heavy water agreed to under the 2015 nuclear deal. He pointed out that the U.S. has dropped out of the pact, reimposed old sanctions, and added new ones.

Iran is also angry that the other parties to the nuclear agreement have not done enough to help the battered Iranian economy recover from the sanctions while still insisting Iran keep its part of the bargain. 

Trump had called the 2015 agreement “horrible” and said he would like to negotiate a new one. But the United Nations atomic watchdog agency says Iran has continued to meet terms of the 2015 pact. While Washington has pulled out of the deal, the other signatories have not.

A broad range of U.S. companies told a hearing in Washington on Monday that they have few alternatives other than China for producing clothing, electronics, and other consumer goods as the Trump administration prepares 25% tariffs on remaining U.S.-China trade.

The comments came on the first of seven days of hearings that began on Monday, held by the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office (USTR), on President Donald Trump’s plan to hit another $300 billion worth of Chinese imports with tariffs.

Sourcing from other countries will raise costs, in many cases more than the 25% tariffs, some witnesses told a panel of U.S. trade officials from USTR, the Commerce Department and other federal agencies.

Mark Flannery, president of Regalo International LLC, a Minnesota-based maker of baby gates, child booster seats and portable play yards, said that pricing quotes for shifting production to Vietnam – using largely Chinese-made steel – were 50% higher than current China costs, while quotes from Mexico were above that.

“Currently there’s no country manufacturing metal baby gates outside of China,” Flannery said.

Child safety products such as car seats were spared from Trump’s previous tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, imposed in September 2018. But in the drive to pressure China in trade negotiations, USTR put them back on the list, along with other products spared previously, from flat-panel televisions to Bluetooth headphones.

The proposed list, which will be ready for a decision by Trump as early as July 2, includes nearly all consumer products, and could hit Christmas sales hard, particularly cell phones, computers, toys and electronic gadgets.

Marc Schneider, chief executive of fashion footwear and apparel marketer Kenneth Cole Productions, said 25 percent tariffs would wipe out the company’s profits and cost jobs. With China producing 70 percent of the shoes bought in the United States, there were no alternatives, including India and Vietnam, that could match China’s quality, price and volume, he said.

“We’re going to lower the quality of footwear, raise prices and accomplish nothing by moving it around to other countries,” Schneider said.

In a letter addressed to the USTR ahead of Monday’s hearing, clothing retailer Ralph Lauren Corp asked for apparel and footwear to be removed from the tariff list, arguing that a rise in duties would lower sales and lead to U.S. workers losing their jobs.

Jean Kolloff, owner of cashmere importer Quinn Apparel, said her reason for opposing the tariffs was geographical – the Alashan goat that produces light-colored cashmere wool is only found in China’s Inner Mongolia region.

“We searched for similar species of goat in an attempt to copy the hair from this animal in other countries or even domestically, but to no avail,” she said.

Deteriorating relations

The tariff hearings are underway amid a severe deterioration of U.S.-China relations since Trump accused Beijing in early May of reneging on commitments that had brought the world’s top two economies close to a deal to end their nearly year-long trade
war.

Since then, Trump raised tariffs to 25% on $200 billion of Chinese goods. The $300 billion list of products being reviewed in the hearing would bring punitive tariffs to nearly all remaining Chinese exports to the United States.

Trump has said he wants to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the June 28-29 G20 leaders summit in Japan, but neither government has confirmed a meeting.

The list of more than 300 scheduled witnesses includes representatives from retailer Best Buy, toy maker Hasbro Inc, vacuum cleaner maker iRobot, faucet maker Moen, and other firms and trade groups in a diverse range of industries.

Not all of the witnesses on the first day of the hearing were opposed to the tariffs. Mike Branson, president of Rheem Manufacturing Co’s air conditioning division, asked Trump administration officials to close a loophole that was allowing Chinese firms to skirt air conditioner tariffs by shipping condenser and air handler units separately.

This allowed the units to be imported duty free as parts, rather than as completed units that were subject to tariffs.

Domestic manufacturers had ample capacity to make these products, Branson said.

 

In December of 2018, the White House released its Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math or STEM education strategy for the next five years to encourage students to study in those fields. With high demands for STEM jobs, students across the country are eager to pursue those careers. Ahmad Sarwari, 12, an Afghan immigrant student dreams of working in Silicon Valley and many say he has the talent to take him there. VOA’s Munaza Shaheed visited Sarwari and his school and filed this report.