Another Take: Iran, the US and the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 14 March 2026
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Every Saturday, we revisit a story from the archives. This originally aired on May 24, 2019. None of the dates, titles, or other references from that time have been changed.
It seemed like a recipe for conflict: Take the Iran nuclear deal, add a dash of US National Security Advisor John Bolton and some US warships, and top it off with the mysterious sabotage of oil tankers near one of the most sensitive stretches of water in the world.
This week on The Take, we go to the Strait of Hormuz to examine just how close the US and Iran have come to the edge of war.
In this episode:
- Zein Basravi (@virtualzein), Al Jazeera Senior Correspondent
- Kimberly Halkett (@kimberlyhalkettdc), Al Jazeera Correspondent
Episode credits:
This episode was updated by Chloe K. Li. The original production team was Alexandra Locke, Morgan Waters, Priyanka Tilve, Dina Kesbeh, Ney Alvarez, Amy Walters, Seth Samuel, Graelyn Brashear, and our host Malika Bilal.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our engagement producers are Adam Abou-Gad and Vienna Maglio. Andrew Greiner is lead of audience engagement and Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Hi, I'm Chloe K. Lee, and this is another take, where we dive into the archives. |
| 0:17.0 | The only route for oil to leave the Gulf and get to the rest of the world is effectively |
| 0:24.9 | closed off. |
| 0:27.7 | Iran is threatening to attack ships traveling in the Strait of Hormuz, where one-fifth of |
| 0:33.0 | the world's oil supply travels through. |
| 0:35.8 | And now, U.S. President Donald Trump said he's, quote, |
| 0:39.9 | thinking about taking over the strait, which is Iranian and Omani territory. Today, we look |
| 0:47.9 | back at an episode from seven years ago and how back then, this narrow path of water almost led to a war like the one we're seeing now. |
| 0:59.8 | This episode originally aired on May 24, 2019. |
| 1:05.3 | All references are from that time. It's been a week. |
| 1:16.6 | For a while there, it felt like war was around the corner for Iran and the U.S. |
| 1:23.6 | If they do anything, they will suffer greatly. |
| 1:25.6 | We'll see what happens with Iran. |
| 1:30.5 | It's going to be a bad problem for Iran if something happens. |
| 1:31.3 | I can tell you that. |
| 1:32.7 | They're not going to be happy. |
| 1:34.7 | They are not going to be happy people. |
| 1:35.6 | Okay? |
| 1:38.7 | And then the U.S. walked it back. |
| 1:41.2 | We do not want the situation to escalate. |
| 1:45.0 | This is about deterrence, not about war. But not before they put everyone on edge, especially in Iran. |
... |
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