Library.

“The United States, under the Trump administration, bombed the Palau-flagged oil tanker M/T Settebello while it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”

Available evidence supports that U.S. forces under the Trump administration struck the Palau-flagged M/T Settebello. But the reporting places the attack in the Gulf of Oman or near the Strait of Hormuz, not clearly inside the Strait while the tanker was transiting it. That added location detail is not supported by the best available sources.

“The Trump administration is dismantling the National Science Foundation-funded Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), a roughly $368 million ocean-monitoring network in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.”

Official NSF statements confirm a major rollback of the Ocean Observatories Initiative, including removal of much of its ocean hardware after FY2026 funding cuts. That supports the basic claim that the network is being dismantled. But the wording overstates the scope somewhat: NSF frames it as a descoping, not a full shutdown, and some OOI components are expected to remain in operation.

“Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration are paid by foreign countries.”

This claim is false. Tariffs are legally paid by U.S. importers, not foreign governments. Multiple independent economic studies — from the Kiel Institute, University of Chicago, Harvard, CFR, Tax Foundation, and Goldman Sachs — consistently find that American businesses and consumers bear the vast majority (75–96%) of tariff costs through higher prices. Foreign exporters may absorb a small minority share through price concessions, but this does not support the claim that foreign countries "pay" the tariffs.