The Escalating Crisis at the Strait of Hormuz

**SPEAKER_1** (0:04)
Breaking news now, in the war with Iran. Iran's new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mattaba Hemeni, has issued his first statement since the war.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:12)
Today, Iran released a statement that it said was from its new supreme leader, saying that the Strait of Hormuz must remain closed.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:21)
So a defiant statement there, read out by a TV presenter, because as you mentioned, of course, we still have not seen him.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:28)
The message marks 10 days since Iran threatened to attack any ship trying to cross the Strait, which is a critical shipping route for oil internationally.

**Jared Malsin** (0:37)
This is the largest oil supply disruption in history, meaning it is causing a global economic disruption that will likely be felt for some time.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:48)
Our colleague Jared Malsin is a Middle East correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.

**Jared Malsin** (0:53)
The Strait of Hormuz usually handles about one-fifth of the world's oil. That has contributed to a surge in oil prices worldwide, which pushed past $100 a barrel this week. And that's going to have all kinds of knock-on effects in terms of the price of gas in the US and all over the world. So there are all kinds of second- and third-order economic effects that are going to happen as a result of this.

**Jessica Mendoza** (1:21)
So incredibly far-reaching consequences, all focused on this one kind of body of water.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:26)
Exactly.

**Jessica Mendoza** (1:30)
Why is Iran doing this? Why is it so focused on the Strait of Hormuz?

**Jared Malsin** (1:35)
So Iran is doing this because it cannot defend itself in a conventional sense against the Israeli and US attack that is going on right now. They are by far the militarily weaker party in this conflict. And so what they're doing instead is in retaliation for the US and Israeli bombing campaign, they are trying to impose economic costs on the US., on the West in general, and on the world at large.

**Jessica Mendoza** (2:02)
Is there any sign that the Strait is going to be safe for passage anytime soon?

**Jared Malsin** (2:07)
In a word, no. What we're reporting is that the United States and its partners have no viable way of re-opening the Strait of Hormuz while there is an active conflict going on.

**Jessica Mendoza** (2:22)
Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Thursday, March 12th. Coming up on the show, why it's so hard to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

**SPEAKER_5** (2:48)
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**Jessica Mendoza** (3:51)
If you're trying to get through the Strait of Hormuz today, what obstacles would you be facing?

**Jared Malsin** (3:57)
So the Strait of Hormuz is a narrow body of water between 20 and 25 miles across. And the Iranians have explicitly said that any ships going through there could be struck with drone and missile strikes. And what we've seen is the Iranians attack a series of ships.

**SPEAKER_7** (4:16)
Iran attacking the flow of Mideast oil, at least six ships targeted in the last 24 hours.

**Jared Malsin** (4:23)
There were a couple more today in the last 24 hours near Iraq, where you have these very dramatic images of ships at sea on fire.

**SPEAKER_8** (4:33)
A Thai cargo ship attacked, three crew missing, one of three vessels struck trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz.

**Jared Malsin** (4:40)
And so the Iranians have already struck a series of commercial ships, and they are signaling that anyone who tries to run the strait will be attacked.

**SPEAKER_9** (4:49)
Iran pledged it won't hold back.

**SPEAKER_10** (4:54)
We will never allow even a single liter of oil to pass through the Strait of Hormuz for the benefit of the United States, the Zionists, or their partners.

**Jessica Mendoza** (5:05)
And Iran has a number of weapons it can use against vessels trying to cross the strait. Among them, drones.