Steve Inskeep

The war has created an enormous bottleneck in the Strait of Hormuz.

NPR international affairs correspondent Jackie Northam joins us next.

Jackie, good morning.

Good morning, Steve.

Okay, wow.

One-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas passes through this one strait, the Strait of Hormuz.

Is it just as important for the container ships?

Amazing then.

So what happens to the cargo of all these ships when they can't move?

Okay, as I understand it, President Trump has talked of the U.S.

Navy escorting tankers and ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which would be a kind of replay of the 1980s when something like this happened.

The U.S.

put flags on oil tankers and so forth to get them through safely.

But when he raises that idea in the 21st century, what kind of reception does it get?

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