Democrats target the Trump administration over the census.

Mike Pence comes under fire for opposing gay flags flying over the American embassy in Botswana,

and Bernie tries to reinvigorate his flagging campaign.

I'm Ben Shapiro. This is The Ben Shapiro Show.

Man, a lot to get to today. Plus, breaking news out of Iran,

where the Iranian regime continues to be extraordinarily militant. This time, they have fired on two oil tankers in the Straits of Hormuz. So tensions are ratching up. We'll get to all of that in just a second. First, if you follow the news every day. And this makes you think, God, maybe I'm going to die one day because this news is just terrible. Well, then probably while you're thinking about death, you may as well make the best of it. Go over to PolicyGenius and go check out life insurance. Now, if you've been procrastinating on this thing, usually that's bad news, but your procrastination has now worked in your favor. Because while you are procrastinating on life insurance, policy genius is putting together a great way for you to get policy genius. Now is the time for procrastinating to stop. Policy Genius is the easy way to shop for insurance online. In just two minutes, you can compare quotes from top insurers and find your best price. Once you apply, the policy genius team will handle all the paperwork and the red tape. No sales pressure, no hidden fees, just financial protection and peace of mind. PolicyGenius doesn't just make life insurance easy. They can also help you find the right home insurance, auto insurance, disability insurance. So if you need life insurance, but you've been busy doing literally anything else, check out PolicyGenius. It's the easy way to compare all the top insurers and find the best value for you. PolicyGenius.com, nobody wants to shop for life insurance. Nobody wants to think about death. But now that you're thinking about death, because I just put it in your head, you should go shop for life insurance. Go check them out at policygenius.com. They made it really easy for you. That's policy genius.com. All right, well, the breaking news this morning is that the Iranian government has now attacked two oil tankers, according to the

New York Times. Two oil tankers came under attack on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman, forcing their

crews to abandon ship and setting at least one vessel ablaze a month after four tankers were

damaged in the same waterway, a vital thoroughfare for much of the world's oil products.

The early morning attacks escalated tensions in an already tense region

where Iran had long been at odds with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and they

are backing opposite sides in the civil war in Yemen. The Houthis backed by the Iranians, whose

slogan is, death to the Jews, death to Israel, death to America. Really nice folks. Those are

the folks who are fighting on behalf of Iran. The Saudis, of course, have their own set of problems, and they are at war in Yemen. Relations between the United States, allied with the UAE and Saudi Arabia and Iran have also worsened. Frictions have become so intense. Other nations have pled with all sides to stay calm rather than provoke in all-out war, which is really kind of pathetic because the reality is the

United States is not interested in war with Iran. No one in the United States is up for a conflict with Iran. But if they keep firing on our ships, I'm not sure exactly what we are supposed to do other than ratchet up economic tension. At a certain point, if they fire on too many of our ships, we're not going to have a choice. We're going to have to eviscerate the regime. But But up to that point, nobody is really interested in that.

The Trump administration clearly is not interested in that. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Shenzhou Abe of Japan, who's visiting Iran and trying to bridge the gap between Iran and the United States, warned of the risk of stumbling into military conflict. Well, you know what heightens that risk? Iran firing on American ships.

That's one of those things that might heighten the possibility of a conflict. Last month,

Jeremy Hunt, the British Foreign Secretary said, we are very worried about the risk of a conflict

happening by accident with an escalation that is unintended on either side. This is everybody

sort of whistling past the graveyard with regard to Iran.

The Iranian regime is deliberately attempting to provoke military action by the United States

that is limited in scope, limited enough that it doesn't actually take down the regime,

...