How to get through the Strait of Hormuz

Summary

Planet Money (NPR)

Episode: How to get through the Strait of Hormuz
Date: April 14, 2026
Host: Nick Fountain
Guests: Christian Sinclair (Fantagraphics), Hamid Hosseini (OPEX), Ryan Peterson (Flexport)

Overview of the Episode

This episode dives into the global economic fallout of the ongoing US-Iran conflict, specifically focusing on Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz—a vital chokepoint for international shipping. Through the lens of a publisher’s delayed comic books, the show explores how global tensions can have ripple effects on everything from oil prices to the supply of niche products. The episode unpacks how ships can get through the Strait, the mechanics of Iran's new "tollbooth" system, and what these disruptions signal for the future of global trade.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Personal Stories in Global Turmoil

• Christian Sinclair’s Ordeal:
  Christian Sinclair, production manager at Fantagraphics, is anxiously tracking two books that were meant to ship from India to the US, only to find themselves caught up in the fallout from the Iran-US conflict.
• The ship, One Majesty (easy to spot due to its hot-pink color), was reportedly attacked and stranded in the Persian Gulf.
  • “I just plugged it [ship name] in again, only this time it’s like, you know, ooga One Majesty has been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz. And I was just like, oh, my God, you’ve got to be kidding me.” — Christian Sinclair (02:53)

2. The Strait of Hormuz as an Economic Chokepoint

• Iran’s blockade has disrupted 20% of the world’s oil supply, as well as other key commodities.
• Day-to-day implications range from spikes at the gas pump to delayed small business shipments.
• Nick highlights the metaphorical uncertainty:
  • “Ain’t that a metaphor?” — Nick Fountain (04:24)

3. How Are Ships Getting Through?

• Some ships are getting through the Strait by paying Iran’s Revolutionary Guard—a makeshift tollbooth system.
  • “If any vessels try to transit without permission, they will be destroyed.” — Hamid Hosseini, relaying Iranian military warnings (06:27)
• Process for passage:
  • Ship owners provide detailed information.
  • Iran checks for links to adversaries (US, Israel, etc.).
  • Approved ships pay a toll: $1 per barrel of oil, via cryptocurrency and in a very short time frame.
    • “He told me [to] pay by crypto. ... Only 5 seconds.” — Hamid Hosseini (10:16–10:29)

4. Economics of the Blockade

• General Average Law: If a ship is damaged, all cargo owners share the losses—a potential financial hit for small publishers like Christian.
  • “If there’s damage to some cargo... it’s shared equally across all people with cargo on the ship. So you all share in this together, including damage to the ship itself.” — Ryan Peterson (13:09)
• Disruptions expose how reliant global trade is on a presumption of free, safe shipping lanes.
  • “We really kind of take it for granted that anybody can just sail anywhere... But this is a pretty new phenomenon.” — Ryan Peterson (14:25)
  • “It’s the heart of globalization.” — Ryan Peterson (14:53)

5. Geopolitics and the Future of Trade

• The episode discusses the broader ramifications: If the US can’t guarantee shipping freedom, manufacturing might move closer to home—potentially ending an era of ultra-cheap, long-distance supply chains.
  • “If you’re saying, hey, the US Navy is no longer the big boss of the seas, like wow, that really changes quite a few things.” — Ryan Peterson (15:27)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “For a long time, if you looked up that particular ship on the marine tracking websites, it just kept pushing out the arrival date by day, even though you knew that was not—” — Christian Sinclair (03:58)
• “Maybe can help him. If he send information, maybe we’ll be able to help him.” — Hamid Hosseini offering hope, if the ship wasn’t US-bound (11:27)
• “No toll. No law of General Average, no blockade.” — Nick Fountain after learning the books never boarded the stranded ship (18:17)

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:58–03:12: Introduction to the real-world impact—a publisher’s shipment stuck in geopolitical crisis.
• 04:24: The economic metaphor of “location unknown.”
• 05:31–09:40: Explaining Iran's leverage, blockade, and the emerging tollbooth system.
• 10:16–10:45: Details of the cryptocurrency toll system.
• 12:25–16:14: Ryan Peterson discusses broader global shipping risks.
• 17:17–18:49: The surprise resolution: The books were never actually stuck at sea.
• 18:56–19:45: Four scenarios for the future of the Strait of Hormuz.

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Episode Resolution & Takeaways

• Surprise Twist:
  After much anxiety, Christian learns his books never left India—they were not on the attacked vessel. They were reloaded onto a different (also bright pink) ship and are back on track, albeit a month late.

• Macro Insight:
  Freedom of the seas is not a given; real disruptions (or potential tollbooths) could reshape trade, manufacturing, and costs worldwide.

• Big Picture:
  The fate of the global economy often hinges on small straits, complex negotiations, and sometimes, the luck of which ship your goods are on.

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Flow & Tone

True to Planet Money’s engaging, inquisitive, and slightly bemused tone, the episode turns dense global macroeconomics into a relatable story—with humor, lived experience, and a dose of uncertainty about the future.

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Summary by: [Your AI Podcast Summarizer]
For: Listeners who want the full story—without the commercials or small talk.

Transcript

[Sarah Gonzalez]

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[Jack Corbett]

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[Nick Fountain]

this is Planet Money from NPR right now as we record this show. Tuesday, April 14, around 2pm Eastern. Iran and the U.S. are still blocking marine traffic from leaving the Persian Gulf. We have no idea how this is going to play out, but we do know that it will have huge implications for the global economy and for this guy.

[Christian Sinclair]

Testing, one, two. Okay, it's recording.

[Nick Fountain]

Who are you and what do you do?

[Christian Sinclair]

Christian Sinclair. I'm the production manager at Fantagraphics. Books.

[Nick Fountain]

Yes, books. But hold on. This is not a show about the Planet Money book. It's about two books that Christian from Fantagraphics has been working on that are weirdly connected to the war between the US and Iran. I first called Christian a little over a week ago, just before the ceasefire was announced. And he told me about the books in question.

[Christian Sinclair]

One is Roberta Gregory's Bitchy. It's a collection of kind of feminist comics. And then another one is Adventures into Weird Worlds.

[Nick Fountain]

The books were printed in India and Christian got word in February that they were on schedule to be put on an enormous and very, very hot pink container ship called the One Majesty and would get to the US in early April, right on time for a book launch party. And then the war started and Iran effectively cut off. These skinny waterway ships used to get in and out of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz. Not too long after, Christian was at a production meeting and a colleague asked,

[Christian Sinclair]

do any of our books go through the Strait of Hormuz? And I was like, no, I don't think so. I was like, you know, they usually just go straight through the Suez.

[Nick Fountain]

And yet Couple weeks later, Christian was wondering about the status of those books, and he Googled the name of the bright pink ship, the One Majesty.

[Christian Sinclair]

I just thought it would, like, show up on vessel Finder like it always did, but. But I just plugged it in again, only this time it's like, you know, it's like, ooga One Majesty has been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz. And I was just like, oh, my God, you've got to be kidding me.

[Nick Fountain]

Christian learned that the crew was safe. The cargo, too. Apparently, the attack left the ship with just a small hole in it, but it was not going anywhere anytime soon. It was stranded in the Persian Gulf. And Christian sitting at his desk in Seattle, he knew these books were not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. There was a war going on. People were dying. Iran's blockade of the Strait had cut off 20% of the world's oil supply and other important commodities like helium and fertilizer. Now, for Christian, like many of us, the experience of the war has been kind of removed. We've mostly seen it at, you know, the gas pump. Christian has seen it with these books, which he kept checking on every day by looking up the status of that bright pink ship.

[Christian Sinclair]

For a long time, if you looked up that particular ship on the marine tracking websites, it just kept pushing out the arrival date by day, even though you knew that was not.

[Ryan Peterson]

Not gonna happen.

[Christian Sinclair]

And, you know, and it's still literally showing it in the Strait of Hormuz. And then I just checked it, and it now says, like, this ship is location unknown.

[Nick Fountain]

Ain't that a metaphor? Hello, and welcome to Planet Money. I'm Nick Fountain. As we tape this show, US Warships are continuing their blockade of Iran. Iran still controls the Strait of Hormuz, and a big portion of global commerce is still stuck, cut off. Today on the show, we're going to focus on a key sticking point between the US And Iran, the future of the Strait of Hormuz. And ask, how have ships been getting through the Strait? What does Iran's control of it mean for the global economy? And what's happened with Christian's books and that bright pink ship?

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[Nick Fountain]

The US has been at war with Iran since February 28th. And for that month and a half, Iran's main leverage over the US has been their control over the Strait of Hormuz. They've attacked ships that try to pass without approval. And recently they've insinuated that one part of the strait, the part near Oman, is not safe. Like maybe there are mines, which means captains have to go right by Iran's shores to get through the strait, effectively creating a choke point for the global economy. Last week, on Tuesday, when President Trump announced a ceasefire, he said the Iranians had agreed to completely open up the strait. But the next day, the ships in that area got a very different message.

[Hamid Hosseini]

Attention all vessels in Persian Gulf and Oman Sea transiting in straits Uppermost is closed.

[Nick Fountain]

Yet transiting in the Strait of Hormuz is closed.

[Hamid Hosseini]

If any vessels try to transit without permission will be destroyed.

[Nick Fountain]

If any vessels try to transit without permission, they will be destroyed. Which was kind of a clue that some ships were able to get through with permission. Maybe this was a way out for the bright pig chip. I wanted to figure out how that permission works, how do you get it and what does it cost. So I started calling around. Hello?

[Hamid Hosseini]

Yes, who's speaking?

[Nick Fountain]

This is Nick Fountain, I just messaged. I was honestly kind of surprised to get Hamid Hosseini on the phone. He's not a government official, but he is very well connected in the oil and gas industry. He's a spokesperson for Iran's Oil, Gas and petroleum products Exporters union, opex. Where are you located these days? Are you in Tehran?

[Hamid Hosseini]

Yes, I'm in Tehran.

[Nick Fountain]

And how has the last month and a half been for you?

[Hamid Hosseini]

Okay, we was care about ourselves, but for Iranian is normal. Don't worry about us, okay? You are safe.

[Nick Fountain]

Hamid seemed relieved for the ceasefire, excited to be a little less on edge. What do you do for fun?

[Hamid Hosseini]

Fun? I play football.

[Nick Fountain]

Football. Are you good? What is your record?

[Hamid Hosseini]

All our player is more than 40 years. We are old man, we are not young.

[Nick Fountain]

You're the old guys.

[Hamid Hosseini]

We play with old guys.

[Nick Fountain]

All right, but back to the straight up horror movies. Hamid confirmed. Yes, there is basically a toll system. In fact, he said just the other day a friend of his, an Indian guy, went through the straight and told him how it works. The friend had a ship full of oil and that ship had been stuck in the Persian Gulf since the beginning of the war. But he wanted to get it out, he wanted to get it to India. So the friend Got in touch with the Indian government who helped him broker a deal.

[Hamid Hosseini]

He explained to me that he contact with the Revisionary Guard to SEPO Navy. Sepal Navy.

[Nick Fountain]

Okay. The SEPA Navy is part of the most powerful military body in Iran. An organization called the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

[Hamid Hosseini]

Okay. And contact to them and inform them I am interested to pass the hormones.

[Nick Fountain]

Pass through the street. Yes. Hamid's friend got word that it was possible, but first he had to send some information, like ship name, country, that it's flagged, where it's headed, what's on

[Hamid Hosseini]

board, who's on board, the team, okay. That's working in the vessel.

[Nick Fountain]

Hamid said the Iranians were mainly checking to make sure the captain and the crew weren't from the US Or Israel or Iran's other adversaries. And that the ship and cargo weren't affiliated with those countries too. Though he said as far as he knows, the Iranian authorities were not verifying what and who was on the vessels by boarding or sending drones. For Hamid's friend and his ship, everything checked out.

[Hamid Hosseini]

They check everything. About personnel, about vessel, about flag, about owner, about destination of the cargo. Then they check everything. Then? Then they approved.

[Nick Fountain]

They approved. But his friendship could not pass yet. First, he had to pay a toll.

[Hamid Hosseini]

Before passing, ask him pay for each barrel. One barrel, $1.

[Nick Fountain]

Hamid's friend told him the ship had to pay $1 per barrel of oil. And keep in mind, these ships, they are big, very large. Crude carriers, or VLCC, carry 2 million barrels of oil. So these tolls could be as much as $2 million each time. But Iran does not want to be paid in dollars. Hamid's friend told him.

[Hamid Hosseini]

He told me pay by crypto.

[Nick Fountain]

Crypto?

[Hamid Hosseini]

Yes. Very limited time. They gave him very limited time. Only 5 seconds.

[Nick Fountain]

5 seconds.

[Hamid Hosseini]

Give him account. 5 seconds. You must pay.

[Nick Fountain]

There are a couple reasons to not use dollars. Crypto helps everyone avoid US Sanctions and also lets the Iranians move the money quickly. Five seconds is extraordinarily quick. Was that an exaggeration?

[Hamid Hosseini]

Petrol? I don't know. But he paid. He was successful to pay.

[Nick Fountain]

Hamid says his French oil ship sailed through and made its way to India. So you got this information from a person who had an oil tanker, also SEPA Navy.

[Hamid Hosseini]

They confirmed that this is the process.

[Nick Fountain]

Hamid told me his contact at the Iranian SEPA Navy said this is the system. I asked Hamid to connect us with his navy source who gave him this info. He wouldn't. Same tube with his Indian friend with the oil tanker. Before I let Hamid go, I told him about Christian and the comic book stuck on the bright pink ship in the Persian Gulf. And he was like, oh, put us in touch.

[Hamid Hosseini]

Maybe can help him. Maybe can help him. If he send information, maybe we'll be able to help him.

[Nick Fountain]

Seriously?

[Hamid Hosseini]

Yes. If destination was not usa, Asian country, no problem.

[Nick Fountain]

Destination is New York City.

[Hamid Hosseini]

New York City, maybe. Let me see what will happen.

[Nick Fountain]

Basically, Hamid is saying since the ship is going to the U.S. christian's only hope might be successful negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. Okay, stay safe and thank you so much for the time.

[Hamid Hosseini]

Thanks. Thanks for any, man. Thanks.

[Nick Fountain]

Okay, bye. Bye. So it seemed unlikely that Hamid could help Christian and the bright pink ship. I also tried reaching out to the shipping company that owns the One Majesty, and they said they wouldn't comment on the status of the ship. But there was one person I wanted to check with. Am I coming through your headphones?

[Ryan Peterson]

Yes.

[Nick Fountain]

Perfect. Let's do this. Who are you and what do you do?

[Ryan Peterson]

Ryan Peterson, founder and CEO of lexport.

[Nick Fountain]

We've had Ryan on the show before, and the reason I called him is because his company is at the center of global logistics and shipping. They have containers going every which way at any moment. He has sources at every major shipping company. He is very keyed into this stuff. I asked Ryan, hey, do you know what's happening with the bright pink ship, the One Majesty, the ship that might have Christian's books on it? And he was like, no, we do have some containers stuck in the Gulf, just not on that ship. But he did have some info for Christian, and it was not good. Apparently, when a ship is damaged, like the bright pink ship was, the ship owner might use something called the law of General Average.

[Ryan Peterson]

And what General Average says is that if there's damage to some cargo on the ship, it's shared equally across all of the people who have cargo on the ship. So you all share in this together, including damage to the ship itself. It's actually you, as a customer of the ship are liable and you're on the hook for that damage. And the law makes sense in that if there's a disaster on the high seas, the last thing you want is the sailors, the captain thinking about which cargo to throw overboard in order to save the ship. You're just like, just throw the cargo overboard and we'll figure it out later.

[Nick Fountain]

Which means Christian and his comics publisher or their insurance company could be on the hook for damages sustained to the bright pink ship. But while we had Ryan on the line, might as well ask him the big question. What Does a potential tollbooth in the Strait of Hormuz mean, mean for global shipping and the global economy? He was like, well, on one level it might just mean one more fee that makes everything a little more expensive. But also it might mean a huge shift because for 70 something years the US Navy has been guaranteeing the free flow of goods throughout the world's waterways.

[Ryan Peterson]

We really kind of take it for granted that, that anybody can just sail anywhere and nobody's gonna attack your ships and there won't be pirates in other countries, navies attacking you. But this is a pretty new phenomenon.

[Nick Fountain]

Got it.

[Ryan Peterson]

And so this is a huge challenge to that order which says, well, maybe the US Navy can't guarantee freedom of navigation anymore.

[Nick Fountain]

How important is this freedom of navigation? Freedom of the seas for global commerce.

[Ryan Peterson]

It's the heart of globalization. And so, and it's global commerce. It's on some level it's the modern world that we're all used to.

[Nick Fountain]

Yeah, the modern global economy requires the free flow of goods around the world and that is in the balance right now. Which might explain why the Trump administration has made opening up the strait a priority in their negotiations with Iran and responded with their own blockade to prevent ships from going to and coming from Iran. Because freedom of the seas is such a big deal.

[Ryan Peterson]

I mean it would be a really big deal if you had a state in Iran that is now able to kind of dictate terms to the United States of America and it's the end of American order. Like that's the big deal. Like the dollar value of the toll, like doesn't really matter. But if you're saying hey, the US Navy is no longer the big boss of the seas, like wow, that really changes quite a few things I think would caused a lot of companies that are thinking in a big systems, big picture kind of way to say hey, maybe doing global long distance trade is too risky. Maybe we should think about regional supply chains. Maybe the US American companies start thinking about manufacturing in Latin America or even back in the U.S. and that would

[Nick Fountain]

be an enormous shift. Speaking of enormous. After the break, an update from Christian on his books and the bright pink ship. He's got some news.

[Jack Corbett]

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[Christian Sinclair]

Good. How about you?

[Nick Fountain]

Good. A few days after I first talked with Christian, the comics guy, I got him back on the line. I was excited to tell him about all I'd learned. The bad news about the law of General Average, about what I'd learned about the tolling system from Hamid and his sort of offer to smooth things over. But before I got to any of this, Christian told me that he had news.

[Christian Sinclair]

The books all this time were in India.

[Nick Fountain]

What? Yes, apparently the books were in India. Christian had thought that they'd made it onto the bright pink ship, the One Majesty. But that ship got waylaid in the Persian Gulf. The ship never even made it to India. So the books never got loaded onto it. They were never on the ship?

[Christian Sinclair]

No, they were never on the ship.

[Nick Fountain]

Ah, what a relief.

[Christian Sinclair]

Yeah. No, no. No potential toll fine.

[Nick Fountain]

No toll. No law of General average, no blockade. In fact, just the day before, the books have been loaded onto a different ship, also bright pink. Apparently. That's the vibe of this shipping company.

[Christian Sinclair]

The ship has officially set sail.

[Nick Fountain]

They're on their way.

[Christian Sinclair]

Yes.

[Nick Fountain]

Incredible. He said sees hope in the books will only go on sale about a month late.

[Christian Sinclair]

If this current sailing schedule holds, which I am pretty confident at this point, it will mid mid July.

[Nick Fountain]

You're confident in anything in global shipping at this point?

[Christian Sinclair]

Well, there's only so many things that can go wrong with one particular book. So I feel like these books have exhausted that.

[Nick Fountain]

Negotiations between the US and Iran broke down over the weekend. And a big sticking point is the future of the Strait of Hormuz. If and when negotiations start back up. There are kind of four main options for the strait. An open waterway with no tolls, a toll booth where Iran gets the tolls, one where the US gets the tolls, or, I don't know, one where they split them. All we do know is that the fate of global commerce and the global economy kind of depends on how it all shakes out. Hey, fellow Southern Californians. Thursday 16 April, aka this Week, Sarah Gonzalez, Jack Corbett, Alex Miase, myself are going to be with a very special guest live on stage chatting about the Planet Money book. And there's also more tour dates throughout the rest of the country and one even in Canada, that should be equally as cool. This episode of Planet Money was produced by James Sneed. It was edited by Jess Jiang, Fact Checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Kwesi Lee. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer. I'm Nick Fountain. This is npr. Thank you for listening.

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[Jack Corbett]

This message comes from ixl. Spring is here and school testing is just around the corner. IXL can help make an impact on your child's learning. Receive 20% off an IXL membership if you sign up [e-mail] NPR this message comes from Schwab. At Schwab, you can get everything from self directed investing to full service wealth management all all in one place, no matter your investing goal, life stage, amount to invest or know how you can invest your way with Schwab.