Pout of the question

President Trump threatens to wreck Iran’s power plants if its leaders don’t agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday. / The Wall Street Journal [$]

Iran’s former vice president says the country could offer to limit its nuclear program and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for an end to all sanctions. / Foreign Affairs

Lazar Berman: At least for the coming weeks, this war looks to be headed for escalation. / The Times of Israel

Kash Patel confirms the FBI has resumed purchasing data that can be used to track people’s movement and location history. / Politico

What is the Paris Club? A secretive powerbroker that’s responsible for “restructuring over half a trillion dollars in sovereign debt since its first meeting in 1956.” / The Dial

Andrew Callaghan: Is Pete Hegseth looking to open a Cracker Barrel in Damascus in 2050? Probably not, but who knows? / Instagram

See also: If pro wrestling occasionally explains things about politics in the United States, then a new, anti-ICE wrestler perhaps says a lot. / The Atlantic [$]

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Among some trends that will shape urban Africa in 2026: middle-class politics, memorialization of the past, integrating cities into the natural environment. / This Week in Africa

As of 2024, the rate of adults becoming Catholic has returned to pre-pandemic levels. / The Pillar

When your lived experience disagrees with experts’ statistics and graphs, it can be “a maddening experience.” / Adorable and Harmless

Max Read: The success of artificial intelligence was inevitable—especially its use by writers and publishers—because it’s not revolutionary. / Read Max

Favorite music from a quarter of the way into 2026. / Andrew Womack

A round-up of relatively affordable international trips Americans can take this summer. / Travel + Leisure

For golf fans, a literary and vintage shopping guide to the Masters. / The Material Review

For readers, round-ups of “weird lady lit” and “novels for unpleasant women.” / MetaFilter

Patricia Lockwood says literary historians who talk around Willa Cather’s homosexuality are like characters on The Oregon Trail dying of dysentery. / The London Review of Books

Unrelated: A critique of “the Gen Z pout” as a sign of someone looking to be exploited. / The Trend Report

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