DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian state television claimed this week that a foreign ship got stuck in the Strait of Hormuz after ignoring instructions to use a route laid out by the Islamic Republic's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
But the ship is tied to Iran — and seems to have been in the strait for months.
The vessel, based on its shape, reported location and other details, is the container ship Arista, reportedly flying a false flag linking it to the island nation of Comoros. That ship was known last year as the Panama-flagged Gauja, which the U.S. Treasury included in sanctions targeting what it described as a network that had been “generating tens of billions of dollars in profit” for Iran's ruling elite.
Here’s a closer look.
Iranian state television aired on-screen alerts Wednesday about what it described as a foreign ship that got stuck ignoring the commands of the Guard's navy.
“A foreign container ship, because of choosing a route other than the one designated under the Iranian order, has run aground in the Strait of Hormuz," a state TV news anchor said in the segment, which included images of the ship grounded. "This comes as the navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has consistently warned that any entry into or exit from routes other than ‘the Route of Authority’ in the Persian Gulf could lead to irreparable incidents.”
The report appeared aimed at underlining Tehran’s claim that it controls the strait, a major corridor for oil and natural gas shipments. Since the U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran has used its ability to choke off the waterway as a key source of leverage, disrupting global markets for energy and other critical goods.
TankerTrackers.com, a company tracking oil shipments at sea, was one of the first expert sources to identify the ship as the Arista. Footage shot by an Armenian news outlet matches the ship in the state television footage to the Arista, pointing to the colors of the containers on its deck and the paint scheme of the vessel. Iranian state TV did not air a close-up image of the ship’s name or its registration number. In one shot, it blurred the vessel’s name.
Marine tracking data shows the Arista has been stuck north of Hormuz Island in Iran's territorial waters since the middle of March. The ship had been traveling between Hormuz and Asaluyeh, another Iranian port, when it got stuck, tracking data shows.
Iranian state television and Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to questions Thursday from The Associated Press.
On July 30, the U.S. Treasury linked the Arista — under its former name, the Gauja — to a massive oil smuggling ring run by Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, a son of Ali Shamkhani, who had been a top security adviser to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The senior Shamkhani was killed in an airstrike at the start of the war along with Khamenei.
The Treasury Department alleged the smuggling ring moved sanctioned Iranian and Russian oil and other goods to buyers around the world.
“The Shamkhani family’s shipping empire highlights how the Iranian regime elites leverage their positions to accrue massive wealth and fund the regime’s dangerous behavior,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement at the time.
After the sanctions were levied, the Gauja changed its name to the Arista and began flying a Comoros flag, which shipping data shows is a “false” flag for the ship — a flag used to disguise a vessel's origins. Sanctioned ships in Iran's so-called shadow fleet frequently use this practice.
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This frame grab of footage aired Wednesday, July 1, 2026, by Iranian state television shows a vessel that ran aground in the Strait of Hormuz. (Iranian state television via AP)
This frame grab of footage aired Wednesday, July 1, 2026, by Iranian state television shows a vessel that ran aground in the Strait of Hormuz. (Iranian state television via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers slowed hiring last month and added only 57,000 jobs, less than half the previous month’s total and a sign companies still have a cautious economic outlook.
The Labor Department said Thursday that the unemployment rate declined to a low 4.2% from 4.3% in May, though the decline mostly occurred because many people out of work gave up looking and were no longer counted as unemployed.
The figures suggest businesses remain wary of the economy’s health, with inflation at a three-year high and consumer confidence near post-pandemic lows. The job market has been stuck in a “low-hire, low-fire” rut in which the employed enjoy some job security while layoffs are low, but those out of work are struggling to get hired. Strong hiring in the spring raised hopes the economy was escaping that dynamic, but Thursday's report suggests it hasn't happened.
Strong job gains that were initially reported in April and May were revised lower. Hiring in May was marked down to 129,000 from 172,000, while April's job gains are now 148,000, down from an initial estimate of 179,000.
Restaurants, bars, and hotels cut 61,000 jobs, a sharp disappointment for those who expected the World Cup tournament that is taking place in multiple U.S. cities would lead to at least temporary job gains. Retailers also shed 7,500 jobs.
Chad Moutray, chief economist at the National Restaurant Association, said member companies are seeing signs consumers are pulling back on eating out, particularly outside higher-income households. They are also seeing evidence of a “K-shaped” economy, with wealthier households pulling ahead of middle- and lower-income ones.
“We continue to hear that a lot of Americans are struggling to make ends meet," he said. “If you’re catering to the upper-end of the K, you’re doing fine. If you’re catering to the lower part of the K, you’re seeing some challenges in the last couple of months.”
Many businesses may be wary of hiring as they navigate the implementation of artificial intelligence, but last month professional and business services, a category that includes architecture, engineering, and software developers — occupations expected to be vulnerable to AI — added 36,000 jobs. Healthcare, the economy's most consistent job creator, added nearly 47,000 positions.
The economy is growing modestly despite ongoing challenges. It expanded at a 2.1% annual pace in the first three months of the year, though some forecasts expect it will slow in the April-June quarter.
Ongoing job gains, however, suggest that the Federal Reserve’s key interest rate, at about 3.6%, may not be high enough to restrain the economy and cool inflation. Fed chair Kevin Warsh in Portugal Wednesday reiterated that he would push inflation back to the Fed’s 2% target, though he wouldn’t comment on whether the Fed would raise rates at its next meeting, in July.
Historically, a job gain of just 57,000 would be seen as weak. Yet as more Americans retire and new immigration has dropped sharply, the U.S. workforce is barely growing. In that case, some economists think even gains at that level may be enough to keep the unemployment rate unchanged — or even lower it.
Mismatches between job-seekers and employers could be slowing hiring as well. Nicole Bachaud, labor economist at ZipRecruiter, said AI adoption could have encouraged a trend she's noticed on their website: Companies are increasingly posting jobs seeking more senior, experienced workers, while job hunters are instead gravitating toward entry-level jobs.
With far fewer people quitting their jobs than just after the pandemic, Bachaud said, companies are having more trouble recruiting experienced workers from other businesses. At the same time, that's left less-experienced workers struggling to break into the job market.
That gap “just shows the mismatch between what employers are looking for and what current job seekers have to offer,” she said. It has likely contributed to the frustration many job seekers feel even as the unemployment rate remains low.
FILE - A job seeker waits to talk to a recruiter at a job fair Aug. 28, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier, File)
FILE - Hiring sign for sales professionals is displayed at a store, in Vernon Hills, Ill., Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, file)
