Best Podcast Episodes on Trump & Strait of Hormuz

“Trump's social media account blamed Israel for the strike and said the U.S. hadn't been informed about it ahead of time. But Barack Ravid of Axios reported that both Israeli officials and an official from the U.S. Defense Department said the strike was coordinated with and approved by the Trump administration. The Wall Street Journal reporters added that Trump approved the strike to put pressure on Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.”

“Earlier this week, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, delivered a message that appeared to tie access to the Strait of Hormuz to a very specific political demand... Conditioning safe transit through one of the world's most important shipping routes on governments distancing themselves diplomatically from Washington and Jerusalem. As you might expect, that thinly veiled threat did not go over well in Washington.”

“Trump, for his part, has tried to just pretend the problem doesn't exist. That's his way. He has repeatedly called on oil carriers to just show some guts and go through the Strait anyway, without an escort. Here he was when asked about the situation in the Strait of Hormuz. Here's what he said just last night. and now we're going to look very strongly at the straits the straits are in great shape we've knocked out all of their boats they have some missiles but not very many i think we're in very good we're in very good shape are we now i mean boats aren't going through there oil is not going through there he just said everything's fine the straits are in great shape well this is what it looked like last night when two oil tankers tried to, quote, show some guts. Both ships erupted in balls of fire after being attacked by Iran.”

“It's a brutal threat meant to make Iran back down. It did the opposite. In response, the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament said...the energy infrastructure, and oil facilities through the region will be considered legitimate targets and will be destroyed in an irreversible manner, and the price of oil will remain high for a long time. I'm recording this on the morning of Monday, March 23rd. As I woke up today, oil prices had fallen a bit because Trump had extended his 48-hour deadline by five days, citing positive talks with the Iranians.”

“Yesterday, President Trump said he was demanding countries that rely on oil from the Middle East join the U.S. in forming a coalition to secure the strait, which supplies roughly 20 percent of the global oil market. Today, the president doubling down on his calls for a global coalition. I strongly encourage the other nations to get involved with us and get involved quickly and with great enthusiasm.”

“Today, as the country enters its third week of war against Iran, President Donald J. Trump was on the golf course, illustrating the observation of journalist E.J. Dion in the New York Times that, from the very beginning of this war, we got a sense that there wasn't a great deal of serious thought put into it by the President of the United States about how it might end, what our objectives were, what needed to be done to protect Americans who were in the Middle East, what might happen to oil in the Strait of Hormuz.”

“You referenced the Strait of Hormuz earlier. Let's talk about it. It is one of the world's most vital shipping lanes. Shipping traffic in the strait has slowed to a trickle, if that. Is the Strait of Hormuz safe for shipping right now, Mr. Secretary? No, no, it is not. That's that's one of the objectives at the end of this conflict is to reopen the Straits of Hormuz. But no, it is. Since the conflict began, Iran has impeded flow through the Straits of Hormuz.”

“President Trump now arguing rising prices are not a bad thing, saying in a post on social media that when oil prices go up, quote, we make a lot of money from domestic oil production and going on to say that it's more important to stop Iran from having nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, there are still major questions about the U.S. Navy's ability to escort oil tankers through the strait, as the administration has promised.”

“Galabaf writes, based on some data, Iran's enemies with the support of one of the regional countries are preparing to occupy one of the Iranian islands. All enemy movements are under the full surveillance of our armed forces. If they step out of line, all the vital infrastructure of that regional country will, without restriction, become the target of relentless attack. We are hypothesizing that that country is Saudi Arabia, that the island is Karg Island.”

“In the last week or so, though, that story seems like it started to change a bit. More vessels are making it through. The problem is it's mostly the ones that Iran wants to let through. Can you talk about kind of the new status quo that Iran is is sort of imposing on the strait in the last few days here? Yeah. So, I mean, we had a kind of shutdown with this.”

“Iran is planning to enshrine a new status, Max Boot writes, for the Strait of Hormuz to require every passing ship to pay fees to Tehran for the privilege. Expediency Council member Mohamed Makhbar... told the mayor news agency, we're setting up a business now. We have such control over the Strait of Hormuz. We're going to make people pay the money and we're going to basically create the biggest toll in the world.”

“After Donald Trump told some of our allies to essentially F off that we don't need their help after we started a war with Iran, he is now circling all the way around and asking our allies for help because Iran is strategically cutting off the United States and Israel from access to the Strait of Hormuz. Now, of course, the Strait of Hormuz is a narrow pathway near Iran, where about 20 to 25 percent of the world's daily oil supply flows through.”

“But what's very clear is that nobody can believe anything that Trump says and that most of what he posts on social media has the single-minded intention of trying to calm markets and keep oil prices from going up too high or keep the stock market from going down too much. But every single time he says there are these negotiations, the Iranians come out and say that there are not negotiations happening.”

“"The only pressure point that they can really use is the Strait of Hormuz. Close the gap or close the seaway. Send the oil price and oil prices higher. Put press China on. You know, you got to help us out here, man. We're really, really stuck here. It's really the only thing that they have. And the Trump administration knew that, which is why Israel went after the regime."”

“Trump announced that Iran was getting a five-day reprieve from attacks on their power supply or oil infrastructure, power infrastructure, because the two sides were having very good and productive conversations. Now, everyone, especially the Iranians, seems surprised by this claim. But our president elaborated on the talks and much more during press events on Monday and Tuesday.”

“Markets will scream when they open tomorrow. VIX will surge to levels beyond what we saw in April. The sell-off will continue for some time as intermediaries shed risk. The controlling factor here as I have told you over and over again is that the United States does not have the military means to reopen Hormuz. There's no military solution in sight.”

“Now, again, if America were to just do that, that would really be dumb because then Iran would be in basic permanent control of this vital choke point in global trade. So what's the thing that comes next? The Wall Street Journal laid out a few options this morning... Or alternatively, President Trump could seize Harg Island... If we were to seize it, it would cut off Iran's export capacity entirely.”

“Now, the head of Iran's parliament, MB Galibaf, he's out there mocking Donald Trump every single day in response to a social media post by Kwaya M. Asif, who says, the goal of the war seems to have shifted to opening the Strait of Hormuz, which was open before the war, to which Iran's parliament leader, M.B. Galibov, mocks Donald Trump in the United States and says, they're playing 60 chess again with clapping emojis.”

“The lack of planning regarding Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz is not just like a facepalm moment. It's stepping on the rake entirely. For decades, everybody has known. I have known. I'm 23 years old. I have known that this narrow stretch of water has been one of the most important choke points in the entire global system. 20 to 25 percent of the world's daily oil supply moves through that corridor every single day. And Donald Trump had no backup plan.”

“They'll join two Marine expeditionary units, totaling about 4,500 personnel, also headed toward the Gulf, also equipped and trained to be ready for action on short notice. Now, word of this new deployment camped off another day of some hopeful talk from the president about negotiations with Iran. They're going to make a deal. They did something yesterday that was amazing, actually. They gave us a present and the president arrived today.”