From Hormuz to Suez: the chokepoints of global power

Summary

Throughline (NPR) – “From Hormuz to Suez: The Chokepoints of Global Power”

Release Date: June 25, 2026
Host: Rund Abdelfatah
Featured Guests: Alex von Tunzelmann (historian), Harold Lee Wise (naval historian), Fadia Muslimi (Yemen/Gulf researcher)

---

Episode Overview

This episode of Throughline explores the history and ongoing importance of three crucial waterways in the Middle East—Suez Canal, Strait of Hormuz, and Bab el Mandeb—demonstrating how these "chokepoints" have shaped the region’s past, determined global power dynamics, and heightened the stakes during crises. Moving from iconic historical moments to recent and unfolding events, the episode shows how control over narrow passages of water continues to enable both states and non-state actors to exercise immense leverage, disrupt global trade, and upend international order.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Suez Canal Crisis (1956)

(05:34–24:10)

• Backdrop:

  • The episode starts with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s 1956 speech nationalizing the Suez Canal, wresting control from British and French interests—a move that triggered international uproar.
  • The Sykes-Picot Agreement’s legacy: “Britain and France had been the imperial powers... under what was called the Sykes Picot agreement.” (06:28, Alex von Tunzelmann)
  • Post-WWII decolonization, the formation of Israel, and rising nationalist fervor across the Arab world frame Nasser's ascent.

• Political Intrigue and International Fallout:

  • Secret British-French-Israeli collusion: Operation Musketeer designed to remove Nasser and seize back the canal.
  • The U.S. (President Eisenhower) strongly intervenes diplomatically, applying economic pressure on Britain, while the Soviets threaten nuclear retaliation against London and Paris.
  • Notable quote:
    “Never assume rationality. Never assume that somebody's doing something for really good, logical reasons.” – Alex von Tunzelmann, (11:32)

• Outcome and Legacy:

  • Britain and France withdraw under pressure; Nasser remains in power—his prestige soars regionally.
  • The Suez Crisis marks the end of Britain as a superpower and the rise of a bilateral world order (U.S. vs. USSR).
  • Israel’s short-term gains dissolve, but it gains closer ties with France.
  • Memorable detail:
    “Nasser himself was actually very depressed... but actually he emerged really as unquestionabl[y] the preeminent figure in Middle Eastern politics...” (21:33, Alex von Tunzelmann)
  • Headline insight:
    Waterways confer disproportionate strategic leverage—“The rules that govern the water are more fluid than those on land. And the people who start a crisis don't always get to decide how it ends.” (23:05, Rund Abdelfatah)

---

2. Operation Praying Mantis & the Strait of Hormuz

(25:42–39:12)

• Background:

  • April 1988: The USS Samuel B. Roberts strikes an Iranian mine in the Persian Gulf amid the Iran-Iraq War’s “Tanker War.”
  • The Iran-Iraq conflict spills into the Gulf, with both countries attacking oil tankers, threatening the world’s energy supply (~20% of global oil moved through the Strait).
    Harold Lee Wise: “It’s one of the busiest waterways in the world.” (29:07)

• Escalation and Retaliation (Operation Praying Mantis):

  • The U.S. responds with a large-scale naval operation, attacking Iranian oil platforms and engaging Iranian naval vessels.
  • The first-ever surface-to-surface missile exchange between warships in world history occurs, with both sides firing (Joshan and US ships).
  • Accidental coordination and near disasters due to miscommunication are detailed.
  • Notable moment: The downing of an Iranian passenger jet by the USS Vincennes, killing 290 civilians—a tragic error that still haunts US-Iran relations.

• Aftermath:

  • The battle marks the end of the "Tanker war," cements the US as the dominant security guarantor of the Gulf, impresses Gulf states, and shows the world that disruption in Hormuz is felt everywhere.
  • Memorable quote:
    “It really increased the standing of the US military worldwide. It showed the smaller Gulf countries that the US was a reliable ally...” (38:21, Harold Lee Wise)

---

3. Bab el Mandeb and the Rise of Non-State Actor Power

(40:19–52:27)

• Setting:

  • The Bab el Mandeb passage, linking the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, becomes a critical new flashpoint as Houthi militias in Yemen (supported by Iran) disrupt shipping.
  • Expert analysis:
    “They [Houthis] are a combination of Taliban, FARC in Colombia, and North Korea... Shiite Taliban... [dependent] on illicit business... believe in isolating themselves.” (42:09, Fadia Muslimi)

• Recent Incidents:

  • Nov. 2023: Houthi fighters seize the "Galaxy Leader" cargo ship—a dramatic act of maritime hostage-taking that brings global attention to Yemen’s war and brings insurance and shipping costs surging.
  • The Houthis deploy drones and missiles to threaten vessels, weaponizing even the threat of attack to destabilize the region and global commerce.
  • Innovation in Disruption:
    “If they shoot a drone that takes a few thousand dollars, then if US Centralcom interrupts that drone with a $70,000 rocket, the Houthis win. ...They created that fear.” (47:53, Fadia Muslimi)

• International Response and Implications:

  • EU launches its first naval mission in the Red Sea (“Aspidus”).
  • “This world is running out of sanity and leadership... Everyone is holding each other hostage at sea... This is the World War of water.” (51:45 & 52:17, Fadia Muslimi)
  • The Houthis' ability to upset the maritime status quo highlights how geography and technology (like drones, mines) allow non-state actors to project global influence.
  • Potential for even greater disruption lies in undersea internet cables vulnerable to attack.

---

Selected Notable Quotes

• On History and Rationality:
  “As a Cold War historian, I often have a little motto which is never assume rationality. Never assume that somebody's doing something for really good, logical reasons.”
  — Alex von Tunzelmann (11:32)

• On the Nature of Leverage:
  “The rules that govern the water are more fluid than those on land. And the people who start a crisis don't always get to decide how it ends.”
  — Rund Abdelfatah (23:05)

• On Modern Maritime Warfare:
  “They changed the rule not just of business, but of war... If they hit you, they win. If they don't hit you, they also win because they created that fear.”
  — Fadia Muslimi (47:53)

• On the Shift to a ‘World War of Water’:
  “This world is running out of sanity and leadership... Everyone is holding each other hostage at sea... This is the World War of water.”
  — Fadia Muslimi (51:45 and 52:17)

---

Timestamps for Major Segments

• The Suez Crisis Story: 00:24–24:10
• Operation Praying Mantis / Hormuz: 25:42–39:12
• Bab el Mandeb & Houthi Maritime Disruption: 40:19–52:27

---

Memorable Moments

• The British PM allegedly wanting Nasser “murdered” before Suez nationalization (06:02)
• American economic sanctions (“let them boil in their own oil”) shifting the course of the Suez Crisis (20:16)
• The accidental near-bombing of 1,300 American civilians during the Suez operation (18:48)
• The moment during Operation Praying Mantis when US and Iranian ships exchange missiles—the first such incident in naval history (32:36)
• The Hollywood-esque seizure of the Galaxy Leader by Houthis, instantly making Yemen’s war a global concern (44:13)
• The chilling new reality for shippers and insurers: “You're no more safe in Babel Mandab. ...It was something in which businessmen started to basically worry about.” (46:31)

---

Conclusion

Throughline masterfully connects historic and contemporary events to illustrate how maritime chokepoints drive the rhythms of global power, trade, and conflict. From outdated imperial hubris to today’s asymmetric maritime threats, the episode shows that a few miles of water continue to shape destinies—not just for regional actors, but for the world.

“Whether it's the Suez or Panama Canal, a strait in the Persian Gulf, or a shipping lane in the Black Sea or the South China Sea, geography might not be destiny, but it is leverage. And sometimes a few miles of water can shape events half a world away.” — Rund Abdelfatah (52:27)

---

For listeners seeking history, insight, and urgent context behind the headlines, this is essential storytelling on the enduring power of geography and the waterways that link us all.

Transcript

[NPR Sponsor Announcer]

This message comes from Angie Tackling a home project. Angie can connect you with pros who do such a good job you might ask them to be your kid's godfather. Don't do that. Just trust them to get the job done. Find a pro for your [e-mail] that's a n g I.com.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

As evening sets in On July 26, 1956, the President of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser stands at a podium in Alexandria looking out at a crowd of 100,000. He's about to throw a wrench into the plans of the most powerful countries on earth. At first, the speech seems fairly standard, kind of upbeat. But about halfway into the nearly three hour speech, Nasser begins to rail against what he calls the imperialists who have mortgaged our future. His voice was growing more fiery. And then he repeatedly says the name. Ferdinand de Lesseps, the 19th century French developer who built the Suez canal in the 1860s which dramatically cut down the travel time between Europe and Asia. The canal was mostly built by Egyptian laborers. It runs through Egyptian territory. But the two biggest shareholders of the company that controlled shipping in the canal, Britain and France. And towards the end of the speech, Nasser reads a presidential decree nationalizing the Suez Canal company, putting control of shipping there in the hands of Egypt. At that exact moment, miles away, Egyptian military forces mobilized to occupy occupy the canal offices, taking control of all its assets. The crowd erupts with cheers. Almost immediately, the British and French owners of the Suez Canal Company start freaking out.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

A new Middle east crisis arises. As President Nasser of Egypt tells a

[Rund Abdelfatah]

wildly cheering crowd, the clock begins tick. Can Egypt and these empires come to some kind of agreement?

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

His announcement touches off a rapid series of reprisals and counter reprisals.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Turns out Britain had already been working on a secret plan to try to get rid of Nasser. And now the moment has come to put it into action. A conspiracy that will nearly bring on World War three. The feeling that we're hurtling towards World War III isn't unfamiliar today. And over the last week, the headlines have been dominated by one Will the latest U. S. Iran tentative deal hold? And will the oil keep flowing through the Strait of Hormuz? Which highlights an important reality. For decades now, the real power in the region has often flowed through water. Three narrow waterways shape the Middle East's relationship to the world, carrying up to a quarter of global trade. Together, they form what may be the most powerful triangle on earth. The Suez Canal, the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el Mandeb. In times of crisis, These waterways become chokepoints, a single disruption sending shockwaves across continents, shockwaves that often reverberate long after ceasefires are signed and tensions cool. I'm Rund Abdelfatah, and on this episode of Throughline from npr, we're taking you to three moments on these waterways that helped define the modern Middle east and rewrote the rules of global power. When we come back, we return to the secret murder conspiracy on the Suez Canal.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

My name is Fritz and deservines from Silver Spring, Maryland, and you're listening to Throughline from npr.

[NPR Sponsor Announcer]

This message comes from NPR sponsor Raymond James, a financial firm offering wealth management, banking and capital markets services that are inspired by people before Raymond James. Financial advisors build plans, they build relationships so they can craft individual strategies designed to achieve priorities and pursue what's possible. That's the power of personal [e-mail] Raymond James Associates, Inc.

[Commercial or Advertisement Voice]

Member NYSE SIPIC this message comes from IXL. With IXL, you get personalized online learning and teaching solutions that help improve achievement, empower teachers and track progress. This one platform for K to 12 helps teachers accomplish what normally would require dozens of other tools. Educators can see how their school is performing in real time to make better instructional decisions. IXL is used in 96 of the top 100 school districts. Learn more at ixl.com NPR

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Part 1 Suez.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

When people try to talk about what triggers the crisis, they often come to NASA nationalizing the suez Canal in July 1956. But I think that you have to understand the world in which that happened.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

This is Alex von Tzelman.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

I'm a historian and my book is called Blood and Suez, Hungary and Eisenhower's Campaign for Peace.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

A few months before Nasser made his earth shattering announcement to nationalize the Suez Canal Company, the British Prime Minister Anthony Eden had actually phoned a colleague in the Foreign Office and said, I want him murdered. So before we dive into what happened next on the Suez Canal, we need to rewind a little to understand what the world looked like back then and how Nasser ended up at that podium.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

So Britain and France had been the imperial powers in the Middle East. They'd carved it up between themselves under what was called the Sykes picot agreement.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

In 1916, the Sykes Picot Agreement drew new borders around the Arab territories of the crumbling Ottoman Empire, places like Syria, Lebanon, IRA and Palestine, and put them under the control of either Britain or France. Around this time, a British intelligence bureau was set up in Egypt to monitor its neighbors. And then a couple decades later, of

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

Course you Got World War II shakes up the entire world after World War II. Complex time in the Middle East.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

In theory, it was the end of empires, the end of colonial rule, the beginning of a new world order defined by international law and organizations like the United Nations. In 1947, the UN drafted a plan calling for the partition of Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states. Israel was established the following year. An Arab state was not created.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

That created a lot of instability in the Middle east largely because most of the other Middle Eastern countries were very unhappy with what they saw as a sort of colonial move after World War II.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

The US not a huge player in the Middle east yet, was a big supporter of this plan and helped push

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

it through the day after the state of Israel was declared. You had a joint force of Arab armies invading and that first war that kind of establishes that.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Newsreels from the time show Israeli soldiers driving trucks through the streets.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

Latest pictures from war torn Palestine provide these impressions of Haganah forces consolidating areas under their control.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

And Gamal Abdel Nasser was among those who fought in that war.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Nasser was from a middle class family, very, very bright, very ambitious, also very

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

good looking, not irrelevant.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

And like a lot of young men in Egypt then who had bigger dreams for themselves, he joined the military and

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

he really started to come onto the radar of people like the CIA in the early 1950s.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

The CIA had been established after World War II and was just starting to build its relationships worldwide.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

In March 1952, when the CIA operative Kermit Roosevelt was in Cairo, Nasser was a colonel. Roosevelt had a series of meetings with him and actually established that Nasser was rather a positive figure from the point of view of American interests.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

This is the same Kermit Roosevelt that staged the coup in Iran in 1953.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

Oh yeah, there weren't too many Kermit Roosevelt. These guys were busy. Yeah, you know, there was a lot happening at this time.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

A lot of secret plots and backroom deals.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

You can't disentangle it from the history of oil. This part of the world is just becoming incredibly important and the struggle to control that is absolutely enormous.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Meanwhile, Nasser helps stage a coup and goes on to become Prime Minister of Egypt in 1954 and President in 1956.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

He was politically positioning himself in a very interesting way because you got to remember the Cold wars really kicked off by this point.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Nasser refused to align fully with either Washington or Moscow. He promoted Arab unity and anti colonial nationalism, which made him very popular across the region and threatening to France, which blamed him for encouraging resistance in Algeria.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

So at this time, Algeria is still part of France. It's held in a colonial situation which it's very unhappy about.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Lucky for France, there was one guy in the British Foreign Office who absolutely could not stand Nasser.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

Anthony Eden.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Anthony Eden started off as a foreign diplomat and eventually became Prime Minister.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

He actually spoke Arabic and Persian.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Eden only ever met Nasser once in person.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

That was in February 1990, 1955.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

According to witnesses, it did not go well.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

Eden brought his wife with him. Eden's wife was much younger than him. It was his second wife, Clarissa Churchill, Winston Churchill's niece.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Long story short, Eden, who was getting up there in age, seemed to be trying to impress his young wife and started reeling off classical Arabic poetry to Nasser. This young, handsome Arab trailblazer. You can imagine Nasser thinking, what is happening?

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

Why are you saying this?

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Then Eden tries to lecture him on defense strategies. He and Nasser start arguing politics, and

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

there he is kind of losing an argument to a much more handsome, much younger man in front of his wife at dinner. You know, do we think this was maybe a factor? I don't know. The strength of that vendetta against Nassir was so extraordinary that we have to say it's hard to imagine there wasn't some kind of personal element.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Now, this is definitely speculative territory, but she says it gets at something important about big historical moments.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

As a Cold War historian, I often have a little motto which is never assume rationality. Never assume that somebody's doing something for really good, logical reasons.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

By the spring of 1956, the British

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

secret services were looking into ways to assassinate Nasser.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Around that time, totally unrelated to that, the U.S. withdrew funding. They had promised Nasser to build a massive hydroelectric dam in Egypt. The US and the UK were growing impatient with Nasser's foreign policy and decided to withdraw funding. Nasser was furious. And that's when he nationalizes the Suez Canal Company. Soon after, France and Britain start to set in motion a plan to invade Egypt, get rid of Nasser and retake control of the Suez Canal Company.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

And, you know, Eisenhower heard about it. They didn't actually approach him.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

The American President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, had been a general in World War II. He'd seen the devastation firsthand. Plus, it was an election year and he was determined to keep the peace. So he wrote a strongly worded letter to Eden telling him to stand down, insisting on diplomacy. He then sent in the U.S. secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, to mediate things.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

He really drove a massive diplomatic campaign with the UN to hash out some sort of user plan for the Suez Canal Company, some kind of joint running of it.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Dulles was actually making a lot of progress. Nasser was playing ball. It was looking like they were going to be able to figure it out.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

But at the same time that was happening, Britain and France were not happy with it. They were going along with it to, like, you know, show good face for the Americans and this. But they were also planning what they called Operation Musketeer.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

And they needed Israel's help to carry out Operation Musketeer. The basic plan was Israel would invade Egypt first. Britain and France would then pose as neutral peacekeepers, send in troops and use the fighting as a pretext to seize control of the Canal. Israel agrees to go along with this plan.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

I think we need to remember this is incredibly soon after World War II, incredibly soon after the Holocaust. There's a real sense among Israelis that this is about survival and there's quite a ruthlessness that goes with that.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Alex says they were also interested in expanding beyond the border they shared with

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

Egypt, and they had their eyes on the Sinai Peninsula. At this point, I think Israel was far more preoccupied with its own borders, as indeed they are today.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

At the un in October, Egypt had agreed to a set of principles for how the canal should be governed. Still, Britain, France and Israel secretly agreed to go ahead with Operation Musketeer. And on October 29, 1956, after weeks

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

of stalemate, the Suez crisis burst dramatically into the news again. For Israel has invaded Egypt. Britain and France have declared the canal in danger.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

Initially, Britain and France got together in London for what they said was emergency talks, though of course this had all been planned.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

You can hear the sense of surprise in news footage from the time.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

Come out of this meeting in London and say we've got an ultimatum. If Egypt or Israel refuses these terms, Britain and France will intervene in 12 hours. Very, very short deadline, just 12 hours.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

I know that you would wish me, as Prime Minister, to talk to you tonight on the problem which is in everybody's mind.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

So, you know, people literally are listening to this on the radio and British civil servants are putting their heads in their hands and saying, what the hell is going on? They don't immediately suspect it's a conspiracy because they can't possibly, possibly believe that such a thing has been done. One former civil servant wrote in his diary. You know, we think AE Anthony Eden has gone off his head. And one Foreign Office official was asking another what was going on. And the guy said, don't ask me, and then sort of flicked his thumb at 10, Downing street and said, ask that fucking madman over there.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Meanwhile, Nasser also can't believe this is happening.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

He kind of said, look, let's not leap to conclusions too much. Let's kind of take our time and really work out what's happening here, because it seems so unlikely. But Eisenhower, Eisenhower did work out very quickly that he'd been betrayed because he knew that Britain and France were planning something like this. The journalist James Reston, he wrote the White House crackled with barracks room language, the likeness of which had not been heard since the days of General Grant. So I think probably some, some big swears going on in the White House.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

So they're mad.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

Yeah, super mad.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Operation Musketeer had quickly started causing huge ripples and confusion even before the 12 hour ultimatum was up.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

French warships are out there in the Mediterranean working with Israeli ships on joint operations. So it's incredibly obvious that they're working together, really, to anyone who's paying the slightest attention.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

The United States was not consulted in any way about any phase of these actions, nor were we informed of them in advance.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

The next day, Eisenhower gives a speech telling everyone to chill out and respect international order.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

In the past, the United nations has proved able to find a way to end bloodshed. We believe it can and that it will do so again.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

It's a very pressure cooker situation and probably this is the point to mention it. There's the first major uprising against Soviet control in satellite states. So the Hungarian uprising begins at this exact point, totally separate from what is happening in the Middle East.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

But the heady breath of freedom was short. As 20 red armored divisions sent Hungarians by the thousands fleeing to the Austrian border.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

The Americans are thinking, what the heck is going on? Why is this happening at the same time? And meanwhile, Moscow starts to think that the CIA must be behind the Hungarian uprising. This is all part of some kind of anti Soviet move.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

So basically everyone is paranoid about these two crises unfolding at the same time.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

And this is when people start talking about this could turn into World War Three. That's the word they use at the time.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Less than a week into Operation Musketeer, things were spiraling way more than expected. The Hungarian uprising is heating up and on the ground in Egypt, Britain, France and Israel were militarily pulling off the operation, but not without some serious mistakes, which only intensified the diplomatic firestorm.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

To give you an example, Britain intended to bomb Cairo west, which was an airfield in Cairo. So the idea is you take out the air power, right? That's always one of the first sort of acts in the war. So British planes are in the air heading for Cairo West.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

But at the last minute, a message crackles through saying 1,300American civilians are being evacuated through Cairo West.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

So if the British bomb it, they're probably going to kill 1300American civilians.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Eden frantically sends a message to the bombers and says, change the target, change

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

the target, Bomb something else. Just take that out instead.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Like, it's crazy that you would just bomb another place haphazardly, right?

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

Just something else. Anyway, it goes even longer than that, though. The planes only had 10 minutes to change those plans. They hadn't been fully briefed and they mistook the civilian airport in Cairo for Al Mazar, the military area aerodrome, which is, of course, major act of war. That shows you kind of the levels of chaos that were going on here and the sort of disorganization.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

At this point, the US and the Soviet Union both jump into action. These sworn enemies, engaged in an existential fight over control of the world, end up on the same side, trying to force a ceasefire at the un.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

Of course, the problem for the UN Security Council is that Britain and France are on it. So there is a resolution brought against them, but because they're both permanent members of the Security Council, they use their veto and it can't be passed.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

And then the US decides it's going to hit Britain where it really hurts its pocketbook.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

Eisenhower realizes he has a very, very big lever here, which is oil.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Eisenhower knew that if he forced Britain to pay for oil with dollars, they would soon hit a wall, inflation would soar and they'd start to crumble economically.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

He actually says in a private meeting that he's inclined to let them boil in their own oil.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

It was a form of sanctions.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

One Labour MP of the time said the only successful use of sanctions in history was the Americans over sewers.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

And the Soviet Union applied its own pressure.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

The Soviet leadership sort of elliptically threatened a nuclear attack on London and Paris. Now, it didn't go so far as to say, we're going to nuke London and Paris, but said if rocket weapons were used against Britain and France, you would no doubt call this a barbarous act. But how is this different from the inhuman attack carried out by the armed forces of Britain and France on an almost unarmed Egypt?

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Was it a real or empty threat? Anthony Eden didn't want to wait to find out.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

Under threat of rocket attacks, but also with Britain's economy imploding, he actually pulls out.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

And just like that, a little over a week after Operation Musketeer begins. It ends in failure. Nasser still in power and Egypt still in control of the Suez Canal Company.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

Nasser himself was actually very depressed after the Suez crisis because his army had lost all the battles. But actually he emerged really as unquestionably the preeminent figure in Middle Eastern politics and, you know, was seen as a hero that had defeated two empires.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

The defeat was especially felt by the British.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

The British Empire was pretty much over already by this point. But I think what it did was kind of end that era psychologically in a huge way. And if you look at how the world is talked about in papers at the time, initially when people use this word superpower, they discuss three superpowers, and it's the Soviet Union, the United States and the British Empire. After Suez, nobody talks about there being three superpowers anymore. It becomes a bilateral world, the US and the Soviet Union, and that's it.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Eden left office pretty soon after the Suez crisis.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

And apparently Nasser, when he saw Eden, you know, fall from power, lose his health, he said it was the curse of the pharaohs.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Where does Israel come out in all of this?

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

Some of Israel are hoping that they will hang on to Sinai and the Gaza Strip, two territories that they have occupied during this war. But actually, Ben Gurion says quite quickly to Eisenhower, we're not intending to occupy it long term. We'll give it back.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Which will, of course, culminate in 1967. Right. And the war that will lead to the occupation of Gaza and the west bank, the Sinai, yes, you can see

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

the roots of that at this point.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Many later saw Suez as a long term strategic win for Israel because it strengthened Israel's relationship with France, which helped lay the foundation for Israel's nuclear program. For the us, Suez marked the beginning of a new era. As British influence receded, the US stepped into a leading role in the Middle east, positioning itself as a central outside power. If there's one lesson from this moment, it's that waterways like the Suez Canal can give an underdog like Egypt a massive amount of leverage on the global stage and possibly even upend the power structures of empires. The rules that govern the water are more fluid than those on land. And the people who start a crisis don't always get to decide how it ends. Coming up, we travel back to the very first time the US and Iran exchanged fire on the Strait of Hormuz.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

This is Jack from Springfield, Illinois, and you're listening to Throughline from npr.

[NPR Sponsor Announcer]

This message comes from NPR sponsor Raymond James, a financial firm offering wealth management banking and capital markets services that are inspired by people before Raymond James Financial advisors build plans. They build relationships so they can craft individual strategies designed to achieve priorities and pursue what's possible. That's the power of personal disclosures. At raymondjames.com, raymond James and Associates, Inc. Member NYSE Sipic this Message comes from

[Commercial or Advertisement Voice]

takeoff by IXL For 25 years, IXL has been listening to educators describe the same challenge with traditional textbooks. They can't meet each student where they are. That's why IXL created TakeOff, a K through 5 core math curriculum that continuously differentiates learning for every student. The curriculum is built on a digital platform with lesson plans, adaptive practice assessments, and real time insights. Learn [e-mail] this message comes from Mint Mobile. If you're tired of spending hundreds on big wireless bills, bogus fees and free perks, Mint Mobile might be right for you with plans starting from 15 bucks a month. Shop plans [e-mail] Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month 5 gigabyte plan required. New customer offer for first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Part 2 Operation Praying Mantis the flooding

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

is being pumped out in AMR 3. We found a hole in AMR 2. The engineers have shored it up.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

It's April 14, 1988, somewhere in the Persian Gulf and the USS Samuel B. Roberts has just hit a mine on fire holes in its hull gathering water fast.

[Harold Lee Wise]

The ship was was buckling and threatening to come in too.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

However, we've got to fight this problem ourselves. We don't know what the size of the minefield is.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

There's no way for another ship to come to their rescue inside the minefield without risking getting hit themselves. So its 200 crew members are stranded. They have to find a way out on their own or else sink.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

It's getting dog we need to maintain.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

By the next morning, they managed to hold the ship together long enough to get out of the minefield and back to safe waters. Miraculously, no one died.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

Hello Mr. President, good morning.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

President Ronald Reagan calls the captain of the USS Roberts to congratulate him.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

Congratulate you and you're men for such a great job in getting your ship safely into port after being struck by that mine.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Almost as soon as the USS Roberts was in the clear, American officials in the Middle east got in touch with the Pentagon and Reagan to respond to this attack with a plan that would put the US and Iran on a collision course in The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow 100 mile long waterway that borders Iran to the north and Oman and the UAE to the south. It's the second stop on our triangle and the one you've likely been hearing about a lot lately. But first, how and why did Iran take control of this strip of water and convert it into a minefield? To understand that, we've got to turn back the clock.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

The most dangerous place for merchant shipping today is the Gulf, surrounded by the Gulf War.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

By 1988, Iran and Iraq had been at war on land for nearly a decade. A war that began just a year after the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Hundreds of thousands of people died, including tens of thousands of child soldiers. And when the war stalled on land,

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

an oil tanker runs the gauntlet of air attacks.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

In the Gulf War, it spilled over into the water with both countries attacking each other's oil tankers.

[Harold Lee Wise]

Iran was sort of by itself. The smaller Gulf countries were supporting Iraq. Iraq was at the time led by, as we know, Saddam Hussein. And ironically the United States was supporting him. Iran wanted to disrupt the flow of oil and gas, ultimate ultimately money to the allies of its enemy. And so they would attack the tankers going to those countries.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

This is Harold Lee Wise. He wrote a book called Inside the danger. The U.S. military in the Persian Gulf, 1987-1988. It features many firsthand accounts from people involved in what became known as the Tanker war.

[Harold Lee Wise]

It's one of the busiest waterways in the world. The numbers vary, but they usually hover around 20% of the world's oil and natural gas, the world's energy supply.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

So Iran armed small boats on the water and placed mines all over the strait.

[Harold Lee Wise]

The Kuwaitis, they approached the United States with a request to escort their tankers. They had to be reflagged with American flags in order to legally be protected by the US Navy. This is what became known as Operation Earnest Will.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

For the most part, the escorts are

[Harold Lee Wise]

going along just fine. And In April of 88, the Samuel B. Roberts was just not on an escort mission. It was just on a normal patrol. It hit a mine.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

In the days after the USS Roberts hit that mine, American military officials in the Gulf and politicians back in Washington debated exactly how to retaliate for this attack.

[Harold Lee Wise]

The folks in the Gulf, the military leadership there wanted to go after the Silkworm sites on land.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Silkworm missiles was the nickname given to a new kind of anti ship cruise missile developed by China around this time and sold to Iran. It was relatively cheap and could be launched from platforms on the shoreline of the Strait. Iran would eventually reverse engineer the Silkworm missile to create an arsenal of anti ship missiles.

[Harold Lee Wise]

Military people on the ground believed Iran was acting as pirates. Let's take the gloves off and put a stop to some of these things. Washington thought the same, but they wanted to be just proportionate and maybe just a hair over, but not too much over.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

They reached the compromise and sent the plan over to Reagan, who gave it the green light.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

They must know that we will protect our ships and if they threaten us, they'll pay a price.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

The plan was named Operation Praying Mantis and it was set to take place on April 18, 1988.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

Evacuate the platform immediately. I repeat, evacuate immediately.

[Harold Lee Wise]

The orders came down to start it at 8 o'.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

Clock.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

American warships were deployed to attack two Iranian gas oil platforms.

[Harold Lee Wise]

They approached the flight first platform. They warned them first. They radioed to the platforms, evacuate the platform immediately.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

The clock struck 8. They waited a few more minutes and then they started blasting. On one of the platforms, the Americans

[Harold Lee Wise]

accidentally hit a gas tank. The platform blew up.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

At that point, Iran decided to strike back.

[Harold Lee Wise]

They send out a missile boat called the Joshan. They started attacking an American boat called the Willie Tide, which is an oil rig support boat. Well, the order came down to destroy that boat.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

This is a warning.

[Harold Lee Wise]

They warned them. They wondered four times by radio, stop,

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

stop and abandon ship. I intend to sink you. Over.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

A couple minutes later, they spotted a cloud of rocket exhaust coming from the Joshan. The US returned fire.

[Harold Lee Wise]

So for just a second the missiles were both in the air. And this is the first surface to surface missile attack in world history.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Quick side note, the missile fired by the Joshan was ironically an American made harpoon missile that the US sold to Iran during the Shah era. Before the 1979 revolution brought the Ayatollah to power, when there was a lot of business happening between the two countries. The Shah had been installed in 1953 after a US backed coup orchestrated by Kermit Roosevelt, that CIA agent we heard about earlier in the episode. Okay, back to the battle.

[Harold Lee Wise]

The harpoon flew by and it landed in the water 100ft away from the ship.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

As for the missile, the Americans fired.

[Harold Lee Wise]

It hit the Joshan.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Eventually the Americans managed to sink the Joshan.

[Harold Lee Wise]

Iran started launching planes and one of the US ships started shooting missiles at them.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Meanwhile, American planes were circling above the water.

[Harold Lee Wise]

And all this time the USS Enterprise carrier group was outside of the Strait of Hormuz.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

A carrier group is a naval task force built around an aircraft carrier that can Execute a really serious attack on water.

[Harold Lee Wise]

The Enterprise had received an earlier set of orders that told them to definitely destroy one of the big ships. The latest order said it was optional, but they thought it was a mission priority. These kind of things happen, these kinds

[Rund Abdelfatah]

of things as a miscommunication that can lead to a ship getting blown up.

[Harold Lee Wise]

Yes. In any case, Iranian commanders sent one of the two large ships out, and it was the Sahan. Now, Iran would play some tricks with these ships. They would repaint their numbers and swap them around. Suppose you see a ship coming out and it has this one number on it. The next day you see it in a different number. You think, oh, that's two ships. Iran has more ships than we thought.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

The Iranians send out what the Americans think is the Sabalan.

[Harold Lee Wise]

It had the number that the Sabalan

[Rund Abdelfatah]

had previously, whose captain reportedly had a habit of sending oil tankers a message before attacking them.

[Harold Lee Wise]

Have a nice day. And they had kind of a grudge against that guy.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

An American attack jet flies in for

[Harold Lee Wise]

a closer look, and the sand started

[Rund Abdelfatah]

shooting at him at the same time. Remember that carrier group? Well, their jets also start attacking the Sahand just as another US warship radios

[Harold Lee Wise]

them and says, back off, I'm attacking the ship. And they said, you back off, we're attacking the.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

The Sahan gets hit from all sides and they sink it. Iran reported 45 dead and 87 injured.

[Harold Lee Wise]

And it's interesting that in the press release the Pentagon put out that this is a coordinated attack. See the irony? It was accidentally coordinated.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

There's something interesting about that. Right? Facts on the ground create a new narrative.

[Harold Lee Wise]

Exactly. I mean, you're in media, you know, you can't go by some of these information that you get later on. They told the pilot you would either get court martial or get a medal for what you did. Because it was iffy justification for attacking the ship.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Whether it was like a war crime versus an act of heroism.

[Harold Lee Wise]

Yeah. But they ended up getting the medal.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

At this point, the American military was sure Iran would cut its losses and back down. But instead, Iran sent out their other

[Harold Lee Wise]

big ship, the American planners. They said, this is crazy. Why are they sending it out?

[Rund Abdelfatah]

An American plane dropped a single bomb on that ship.

[Harold Lee Wise]

The bomb went down the stack ship and exploded in their engine room. And the ship just drifted to a stop and started leaking oil all over the Gulf.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

And for a few minutes after, there was a question about whether they should continue the assault on the Iranian ship and try to sink it. Harold says people who were there told him. The pilots radioed the Pentagon and Admiral Krau. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said, no, call it off.

[Harold Lee Wise]

That's enough for today.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

In less than 24 hours, Operation Praying Mantis was over. For the US it was the largest air sea battle since World War II. They had taken out two Iranian oil platforms, two of Iran's biggest warships and several smaller boats. And although escorts of oil tankers would continue for another year, this operation effectively ended the tanker war. With one notable exception.

[Commercial or Advertisement Voice]

The USS Vincennes shot two missiles and an Iranian Airbus, mistaking it for an Iranian jet fighter.

[Harold Lee Wise]

It was in early July of 88 that the US ship, the USS Vincennes mistakenly identified an Iranian passenger plane as an attacking plane.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

All 290 people on board died in the crash.

[Commercial or Advertisement Voice]

The Reagan administration this week offered to pay compensation to the families of the downed airliner. The move was unpopular in the US but it's likely to weaken international support, support for Iran's charge that the missile attack was intentional.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Despite that fatal error, the success of Operation Praying Mantis loomed large. And the US Was seen as the de facto guardian of the Strait of Hormuz.

[Harold Lee Wise]

It really increased the standing of the US military worldwide. It showed the smaller Gulf countries that the US was a reliable ally, which was questionable before this operation started. This reassured the world that the US would keep this oil flowing, a status

[Rund Abdelfatah]

quo that was in place until the current war between the U.S. israel and Iran began.

[Harold Lee Wise]

And when there's instability in there today, we see in our own pocketbooks how it's affecting us.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Coming up, we travel to the newest frontier in the water wars, which may deepen that hole in our pocketbook even more. You're listening to Throughline from npr. This is Taylor from Aromas, California.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

And I love this show.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

I find it to be eye opening, thought provoking. Thank you all so much.

[NPR Sponsor Announcer]

This message comes from NPR sponsor Raymond James, a financial firm offering wealth management, banking and capital markets services that are inspired by people before Raymond James. Financial advisors build plans. They build relationships so they can craft individual strategies designed to achieve priorities and pursue what's possible. That's the power of personal [e-mail] Raymond James Associates, Inc.

[Commercial or Advertisement Voice]

Member NYSE SIPIC this message comes from IXL. With IXL, you get personalized online learning and teaching solutions that help improve achievement, empower teachers and track progress. This one platform for K12 helps teachers accomplish what normally would require dozens of other tools. Educators can see how their school is performing in real time to make better instructional decisions. IXL is used in 96 of the top 100 school districts. Learn more at ixl.com NPR

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Part 3 Hostage at Sea. On June 8, 2026, a spokesperson for Yemen's Houthis released this video announcing a missile attack on Israel. He also declared a ban on Israeli shipping in the Red Sea, raising fears that there will be major disruptions to shipping traffic in Bab el Mendab, which loosely translates to the gate of grief.

[Fadia Muslimi]

It can be the word of grief because Al Mandab is a double linguistic word in Arabic. It can be the way out or the way to get stuck in. It's the neck of many things.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Like the choke point.

[Fadia Muslimi]

Yes, yes, exactly.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

This is Fadia and Muslimi.

[Fadia Muslimi]

I am a Yemen and Gulf researcher at Chatham House in London. I am originally from Yemen.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

The two waterways we've visited so far, the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz, might be more familiar to you, but Fadia has spent a lot of time thinking about this third point of the triangle, Bab el Mandeb, the narrow passage between Yemen and the Horn of Africa that links the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. Each story reveals a different kind of power hidden on these waterways. At Suez, we saw how a waterway could shift the balance of power between nations. And in Hormuz we saw how it could disrupt the flow of oil and goods around the world. In this third story, we'll see something different. How a narrow stretch of water can be used by non state actors to make themselves impossible for the world to ignore. Babin Mandeb only really came on the radar of many Americans in the last few years and has become almost synonymous

[Fadia Muslimi]

with the Houthis, the militia arm, the group supported by Iran. They are originally Yemeni. I personally think the Houthis are a combination of Taliban, AFARC in Colombia and North Korea. Their Shiite Taliban because their extreme explanation of Islam is radical and their worldview of human rights, of equality, of women, of the west, of the Other, is extremely criminalizing. They are like FARC of Colombia because they depend highly on illicit business revenues, drugs. And they are North Korea because they believe in isolating themselves and everyone from the world. Their biggest dream is to basically keep millions of Yemenis under their control. That has nothing to do with the world.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

The Houthis came to power in Yemen a decade ago with a headline making move.

[NPR Sponsor Announcer]

Houthi fighters seized control of the presidential palace in Sana'.

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

A. They also took control of state media.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Situation on the ground remains unstable. This spiraled into a brutal civil war that quickly ballooned into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. A decade later, it's still ongoing.

[Fadia Muslimi]

A disturbing mixture of Libya, Syria, Iraq, and somehow Lebanon together all put into one package called Yemen.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

In the US the war in Yemen received very little coverage. Despite becoming one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

[Fadia Muslimi]

It was not a domestic issue. It was not an election issue.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

But then they burst into the wheelhouse

[Commercial or Advertisement Voice]

and ordered the crew to lie down.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

On November 19, 2023, a little over a month after the October 7 attacks and the beginning of the bombardment of

[Fadia Muslimi]

Gaza, the Houthis showed up in the Red Sea.

[Commercial or Advertisement Voice]

But a dozen men wearing body armor

[Rund Abdelfatah]

and carrying assault weapons jump out of a helicopter and run along the deck

[Commercial or Advertisement Voice]

of the Galaxy Leader.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

A cargo ship called the Galaxy Leader was traveling near Babid Mendeb when armed Houthi hijackers suddenly descended on the ship.

[Commercial or Advertisement Voice]

According to the Lloyds List, a shipping journal, the Galaxy Leader is Israeli owned,

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Bahama, flagged and operated by a Japanese company.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

A Houthi spokesperson didn't comment specifically on the seizure, but said all ships owned or operated by Israel could be targeted.

[Fadia Muslimi]

From a media point of view, it was the perfect entrance for them, Hollywood style.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

The Houthis provided the video and blurred faces, which they released on social media the next day.

[Fadia Muslimi]

That was how the Houthis decided to announce themselves to the world. Hundreds of millions of young men and women around the world feeling senseless, looking for any compass, Frustrated? Partially. A lot of people say nothing will be the same in Palestine and Israel after that.

[Commercial or Advertisement Voice]

They're disrupting one of the world's busiest shipping lanes in the Red Sea, where

[Rund Abdelfatah]

thousands of massive cargo ships travel through every year.

[Fadia Muslimi]

Obviously, my immediate reaction was like, holy crap. But in another way, I was like, wait, this actually can be a huge global opportunity in which Yemen can be redefined from, oh, a poor suffering country into an important country. The Red sea attacks in 2023 was the very first time since 13 years the world has paid for Yemen war.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Fadia says in reality, the Houthis weren't even all that comfortable on the water.

[Fadia Muslimi]

They're a mountain group. They hate the water. They're afraid of the water. They're caves, people. But suddenly, like, as the whole world global was coming, they saw, oh, water. That can be something. You know, the mountain and the sea. In Yemen, they hug each other.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Which meant the Houthis could launch attacks on ships in Bab el Mandab from the mountains without ever stepping foot in the water. And they got weapons, drones, and maritime training from Iran.

[Commercial or Advertisement Voice]

Now, three People have been killed and

[Rund Abdelfatah]

at least two injured in the latest attack by Houthi rebels on a merchant ship. The attack's already leading to a 5%

[Commercial or Advertisement Voice]

increase in the cost of shipping a container from Asia to the east coast

[Rund Abdelfatah]

of the US since October 7th.

[Fadia Muslimi]

It started to create that an immediate injury, insurance bannock, and insurance beyond anything. It's a feeling. So that feeling was broken. You're no more safe in Babel Mandap. You're no more safe in this part of the world, you know. But it was a panic that you could see in numbers you can see in Wall Street. It was something in which businessmen started to basically worry about.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

And is it too simple to say that part of what garners the attention is as soon as a state or a non state actor begins to threaten money, the bottom line, that's when, you know, the global community tends to mobilize most aggressively.

[Fadia Muslimi]

Absolutely. You had the eu, one of the most inefficient bureaucracies in the world and the most consensus and time consuming. They started to make a military operation called Aspidus operation in the Red Sea.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

The mission named Aspect, the Greek word for protector, involves four countries. Greece, France, Italy and Germany.

[Fadia Muslimi]

Ended up until today, happening in the Red Sea. And Babel Mandar,

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Would you call this a form of political piracy?

[Fadia Muslimi]

Yes, yes.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Fatiya also has another name for it, Drone mine diplomacy.

[Fadia Muslimi]

They changed the rule not just of business, but of of war. If they shoot a drone that takes few thousand dollars, then if US Centralcom interrupts that drone with a $70,000 rocket, the Houthis win. It's a choice in which you can only bleed and bleed and the other side only win or win. If they hit you, they win. If they don't hit you, they also win because they created that fear. What will happen of the Houthis? You will sanction them, they don't care. Will you ban them from travel? They don't spend August in Las Vegas, don't have bank accounts in Belgium or in New York, you kind of freeze. It also came in a moment where the international law and order is already collapsing by states. It was fracturing in Palestine, it was a fracturing in Ukraine, it was fracturing in Syria, it was fracturing everywhere else. And the Houthis were like, okay, we can do it too.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

And Fadia says there isn't such a clear difference between what non state actors like the Houthis did in Bab El Mandeb and what countries like the US have done in recent years.

[Fadia Muslimi]

Holding a Venezuelan president or US military

[Rund Abdelfatah]

strikes on boats in the Caribbean.

[Fadia Muslimi]

It's exactly the same playbook. It's a hostage policy. Hold the entire world hostage. We cannot differentiate it. Whether it happens in a dishtasha or in a suitable,

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

it's a sight to behold.

[Fadia Muslimi]

Off the port of Al Salif, the Galaxy Leader was anchored in the harbour under tight security.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Till recently, the Galaxy Leader was taken to a port on the coast of Yemen and its captive crew was held hostage for 430 days. The news media keeping a close eye on things. During that time, the Houthis continued to threaten other ships on Bab el Mendab, leading to some casualties, though some countries were given free rein to travel through it.

[Fadia Muslimi]

The Houthis buy drones, buy toys, buy a lot of stuff from China, and that relationship is actually quite strong. And there was some intelligence report about the Russians trying to tip the Houthis about information and intelligence on Western ships.

[Listener or Call-in Participant]

Goodbye, Amen, thank you very much and go home now.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

The crew of the Galaxy Leader was finally freed in January 2025 in response to the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. No one was killed while on board. A few months later, in July 2025, the Israeli Defense Forces said they'd bombed the port where the Galaxy Leader was being held. The IDF claimed, quote, Houthi forces installed a radar system on the ship and have been using it to track vessels in the international maritime arena to facilitate further terrorist activities. A Houthi spokesperson posted on X that they, quote, effectively repelled the Israeli attacks. Since then, the Houthis have been relatively quiet on the water. But in the last couple of weeks, they announced a renewed blockade of Israeli ships through Bab and Mandeb. And their involvement may soon escalate further, depending on whether the deal between the US and Iran holds.

[Fadia Muslimi]

Baba Bentab will always remain vulnerable. It's the opportunity and the problem of geography and to have Hormuz and Bab el Mandaba close together, that is an absolute nightmare.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Actually, there's also the question of whether the Houthis would be able to potentially target the undersea cables that run through Babin Mendeb, which are essential to the Internet worldwide.

[Fadia Muslimi]

Then you will start having Google suffer, Microsoft suffer, Amazon suffer.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

I mean, as you're looking towards the future, do you think that that is likely to happen?

[Fadia Muslimi]

I think everything is possible. This world is running out of sanity and leadership for the sake of stability. And even beyond Bab el Mandaba and Hormuz, if we look into the way military and wars and recent conflicts, they really have moved from the mountains and the land into the sea. Everyone is holding each other hostage is the sea. You can be the Houthis, you can be Putin, you can be Erdogan, you can be Iran. It's all about water. This is the World War of water.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

The world War of water. Whether it's the Suez or Panama Canal, a strait in the Persian Gulf, or a shipping lane in the Black Sea or the South China Sea, geography might not be destiny, but it is leverage. And sometimes a few miles of water can shape events half a world away. And that's it for this week's show. I'm Rund Abdelfattah. Throughline was created by me and Ramtin Adabloui. This episode was produced by me and

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

Sarah Wyman, Casey Minor, Christina Kim, Devon

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Kadayama, Kiana Mokattam, Irene Noguchi, Liana Semstrom,

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

Julia Redpath, Skyler Swenson, Amy Padula, Jasmine Romero.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

Thank you to Johannes Durgi, Cheyenne Butler, Yolanda Sangweni and Tommy Evans. Archival audio in this episode includes clips from Tames TV, TRT World and France 24. Fact checking for this episode was done by Kevin Voelkel. This episode was mixed by Jimmy Keighley. Music for this episode was composed by Ramtin and his band Joplin Electric, which

[Alex von Tunzelmann]

includes Naveed Marvi, Sho Fujiwara, Anya Mizani.

[Rund Abdelfatah]

And finally, if you have an idea or like something you heard on the show, please write [e-mail] and if you're open to us giving you a call back, leave your number too. We might feature your idea in an upcoming episode. Also, make sure to follow us on Apple, Spotify or the NPR app. That way you'll never miss an idea episode. Thanks for listening.

[Commercial or Advertisement Voice]

This message comes from Prolon. Want to look and feel your best this spring? Prolon's five Day Fasting Mimicking Diet is a clinically developed nutrition program with the goal of promoting fat loss while protecting lean body mass. Developed at USC's Longevity Institute, it aims to assist the body in entering a fasting like state that helps reset metabolism, target visceral fat and support healthy metabolic markers. Get 20% off plus a bonus gift when you [e-mail] NPR this message comes from Mint Mobile. If you're tired of spending hundreds on big wireless bills, bogus fees and free perks, Mint Mobile might be right for you. With plans starting from 15 bucks a month, shop plans [e-mail] Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month 5 gigabyte plan required new customer offer for first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.