Reopening the Strait of Hormuz & Saving Downed Pilots

War on the Rocks

News, Politics

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 April 2026

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Two retired U.S. admirals with deep experience at sea and in the air joined Ryan to discuss the military challenge of reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Adm. (ret.) Jamie Foggo and Vice Adm. (ret.) John "Fozzie" Miller unpack how Iran has been able to throttle one of the world's most important waterways and what it would actually take to restore freedom of navigation. The conversation explores mines, drones, missiles, escorts, air strikes, how a Marine expeditionary unit might raid Kharg Island, and (of course) the strategy.

Hours before this was recorded, news had broken that a U.S. Air Force F15E had been shot down over Iran. The pilot had been rescued at the time of recording, but the weapons system officer was still on the run (thankfully, he has since been rescued). Foggo and Miller have deep experience in this area and were able to share some insights on how these rescue operations unfold. And they close with a few words on what lessons the Navy should be learning from this war in terms of fleet design.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You are listening to the War on the Rocks podcast on strategy, defense, and foreign affairs.
0:13.8	My name's Ryan Evans. I'm the founder of War in the Rocks.
0:16.5	The biggest military challenge facing the United States right now, as far as Iran is concerned,
0:25.6	is the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has de facto closed through threats of mines, drones,
0:31.4	missiles, and other strikes. This very thin, very narrow strait is the waterway through which 20% of the world's petroleum exports flow. And President Trump has threatened to strike
0:37.1	Iranian power infrastructure and other
0:39.3	infrastructure if Iran does not reopen the strait and allow passage once more, not just to
0:45.6	chosen ships from Iran's favored nations, which still, according to Iran's new tollbooth system,
0:50.8	must pay $2 million per ship but to all legal commercial traffic.
0:56.5	To help us understand these issues, I invited two experienced retired admirals with exemplary
1:02.0	service records onto the show, Admiral's Jamie Fogh and Fasie Miller, both of whom
1:07.3	served in and around the Middle East and have extensive experience on these matters.
1:12.0	We recorded this on Friday when we had just read the news that an American F-15E had been shot down over Iran.
1:17.5	The pilot had been rescued at this point.
1:19.3	The weapons system officer still had not been rescued.
1:22.1	But Admiral's Fogo and Miller walk us through how the Navy and other services work together to rescue down pilots in combat zones.
1:29.8	Enjoy the show. I'm Admiral Jamie Fogger, United States Navy retired, currently acting as the
1:35.7	Dean of the Center for Maritime Strategy, the Navy League in the United States. And I'm retired
1:39.6	Vice Admiral Fossey Miller, former Fifth League commander. And tell me more about the time that you two
1:45.9	spent in the Middle East and when you were there and what you were doing. Yeah, I'll go first because
1:50.8	I didn't serve in the Fifth Fleet AOR. I was next door in Naples, Italy. And Admiral Miller
1:56.7	was a Fifth Fleet commander when I was a one-star. But we had this kindred spirit between the
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from War on the Rocks, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of War on the Rocks and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.