Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio. I'm your host, Jason Palmer. Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

In Rio de Janeiro, violent groups appropriate land and extort money from ordinary people for basic services.

These aren't random thugs. They're well-connected thugs, often former police, with links deep within Brazil's government.

That makes them even harder to deal with than the city's notorious drug gangs.

And country music has long been borrowing elements of pop and shedding some of its down-home imagery.

But more changes afoot. The genre's racial politics are now on show,

after a breakaway hit by a black artist was booted from the category for supposedly not being country enough.

First up, though,

It is the assessment of the United States government

that the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for the attacks that occurred in the Gulf of

Amman today.

America's Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, blamed Iran for an attack on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman today. America's Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo,

blamed Iran for an attack on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman yesterday.

It came just a month after a similar attack nearby on four ships,

which America also claimed was carried out by Iran.

The United States will defend its forces, interests,

and stand with our partners and allies to safeguard global commerce and regional stability.

He suggested, well, there are no other groups in the region that have the training or capabilities for this kind of thing.

Shishong Joshi is the economist's defense editor.

Since he spoke, the Americans have also released a video showing a small

boat removing a mine from the hull of one of the ships. And it's the kind of small boat that

the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have been using in the region. And the Americans say that this

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