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Biden to Meet with Families of US Hostages held in Gaza, US Official Says

FILE - President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference July 11, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference July 11, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
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Biden to Meet with Families of US Hostages held in Gaza, US Official Says

FILE - President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference July 11, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference July 11, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

US President Joe Biden will meet with families of Americans held hostage in Gaza at the White House later this week, a US official said on Tuesday.

It would be the president's second such meeting since hostages were taken in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the official said, Reuters reported.

Biden, who has been recovering from COVID, was expected to meet with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, according to an official.

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Former Iranian Minister Calls for Iranian Control over Strait of Hormuz

Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
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Former Iranian Minister Calls for Iranian Control over Strait of Hormuz

Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo

Former Iranian Economy Minister Ehsan Khandouzi has said that tankers and LNG cargoes should only transit the Strait of Hormuz with Iranian permission and this policy should be carried out from "tomorrow for a hundred days."

It was not immediately clear whether Khandouzi was echoing a plan under the Iranian establishment's consideration or sharing his personal opinion, according to Reuters.

Tehran has long used the threat of blocking the narrow waterway as a means to ward off Western pressure, without acting on its threats. The stakes have risen since Israel launched an air war on Iran last week after concluding the latter was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon. Iran maintains its nuclear programme is purely for civilian purposes.

"This policy [of controlling maritime transit in the Strait]is decisive if implemented on time. Any delay in carrying it out means prolonging war inside the country," Khandouzi posted on X on Tuesday.

Khandouzi was economy minister until the summer of last year in the cabinet of late President Ebrahim Raisi and remains close to the Iranian establishment's hardliners.

About 20% of the world’s daily oil consumption — around 18 million barrels — passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which is only about 33 km (21 miles) wide at its narrowest point.