Evening Brief: Border Patrol Operations Start in Charlotte, Iran Hijacks Tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, Former First Lady Says We Are Not Ready for a Woman President

The Talara had sailed from Ajman in the United Arab Emirates and was bound for Singapore with about 30,000 tons of high sulfur gasoil on board when three small Iranian boats closed in and forced the ship into Iranian territorial waters. Tehran wrapped the grab in legal language, saying a court order authorized the interdiction over an “illegal consignment” and claiming the move protected Iran’s “national interests and resources.”Details on the crew, follow-on disposition, or what exactly was “illegal” remain conveniently vague. The United States watched it unfold in real time. A U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton drone orbited overhead for hours as the seizure played out, while a private security firm reported the three small attack craft that swarmed the Talara. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center flagged the incident as possible “state activity” after tracking the tanker’s forced deviation into Iranian waters. Columbia Shipmanagement, the Cyprus-based company that runs the ship, reported it had lost contact with the vessel, which was carrying high-sulfur gasoil. This is not a one-off. Iran has been blamed for limpet mine attacks on tankers in 2019 in the Gulf of Oman and a 2021 drone strike on the Israeli-linked tanker Mercer Street that killed two crew members. Each of these episodes came after Washington pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal and as Tehran pushed its nuclear program and regional proxy campaigns forward. The ground truth is simple. Roughly twenty percent of the world’s traded oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has repeatedly threatened to close it, while the U.S. Fifth Fleet out of Bahrain exists in large part to make sure that never happens. Seizing the Talara lets Tehran show it can squeeze the choke point without formally declaring it closed. It is leverage with a hull number. For tanker crews transiting Hormuz, this episode is a reminder that one routine transit can turn into a boarding at gunpoint. For planners in Washington, Tehran, and every capital that depends on imported energy, it is another data point that energy security in the Gulf still rides on decisions made in a narrow corridor of water and an even narrower corridor of political judgment.   Iran hijacked the oil tanker Talara today in the Strait of Hormuz area after it sailed from Dubai. The ship, owned by a Cypriot company named Pasha Finance and sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands, was taken to the shores of Iran. pic.twitter.com/XyuGF7iVUU — Shiri_Sabra (@sabra_the) November 14, 2025 Michelle Obama Says America Still “Ain’t Ready” For A Woman President Michelle Obama walked onto a Brooklyn stage to talk about fashion and ended up firing a blunt shot at American politics. In front of a packed house, she said flatly that the United States is still not ready for a woman president. Speaking at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with Tracee Ellis Ross during an event for her new book The Look, the former first lady used the 2024 race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris as Exhibit A. Trump is back in the Oval Office. Harris is not. Obama summed it up in one hard line about the last election: “As we saw in this past election, sadly, we ain’t ready.” She told the crowd to stop waiting for her to ride in and fix it. Asked yet again about a White House run, Obama waved it off and said, “You’re not ready for a woman,” making it clear she has no intention of putting her name on a ballot in a country she believes still recoils at female authority. Obama’s critique was aimed straight at the culture, not at one party. She talked about men who cannot accept being led by a woman and about the double standard that follows women in public life. A woman candidate, in her telling, has to prove competence, toughness, and likability on a loop while every dress, tone shift, and facial expression is graded in real time. You can put women on magazine covers and celebrate their success in business, she argued, and still refuse to trust them with the nuclear codes. She tied that attitude to the broader environment women are operating in right now. Obama pointed to the Dobbs decision that gutted federal abortion protections, fights over reproductive health access, and ongoing battles over protections for pregnant workers as proof that progress on gender is reversible and fragile. In that context, talk about wanting a woman in the big chair starts to sound hollow to her. People still chant her name as a fantasy candidate for 2028. Obama’s answer, once again, was no. The crowd heard a hard assessment instead of a campaign tease. For all the talk about breaking the ultimate glass ceiling, one of the most trusted women in American public life is saying out loud what a lot of voters will not admit: the country has some growing up to do before a woman commander in chief is anything more than a slogan on a bumper sticker.   NEW: Michelle Obama says she isn’t going to run for president because she doesn’t want to waste her time because America “ain’t ready.” Tracee Ellis Ross: How do you feel about the fact that the First Lady is an archetype for wifedom and femininity? Obama: I don’t agree with… pic.twitter.com/e03xKMIOvE — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 15, 2025