An agreement to reopen the waterway would be followed by a complicated process of navigating a backlog of vessels stranded for nearly three months.

The United States has carried out dozens of boat strikes since September against people the Trump administration accuses of smuggling drugs.

Controllers for shipping companies face a daunting decision as they try to free vessels trapped in the Persian Gulf: “Basically you’re sending someone unarmed into war.”

The U.S. military has provided few details on how it might carry out President Trump’s orders as he seeks to pressure Tehran on a peace deal. But history and established practices offer some clues.

The Cuban immigrants sailed from the Florida Keys and wound up in a gunfight off Cuban shores. They were anti-Communist militants from fringe groups.

The Cuban government’s account of a supposed armed raid into its territory was called into question after one of the men identified as being on the boat turned up in Miami.