Is the Strait of Hormuz Trump’s biggest political headache?
5/5/202617 min
Iran and the United States have exchanged fire in the Strait of Hormuz in the last couple days as the U.S. military tries to provide safe passage to commercial ships there. We discuss what these developments mean for the ongoing ceasefire, as well as how the war overall has stymied President Trump’s domestic priorities.
This episode: political correspondent Ashley Lopez, national security correspondent Greg Myre, and White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez.
This podcast was produced by Casey Morell and Bria Suggs, and edited by Rachel Baye.
Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
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Ashley Lopez· Host0:34
[upbeat music] Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Ashley Lopez. I cover politics.
Greg Myre· Panelist0:42
I'm Greg Myre. I cover national security.
Franco Ordoñez· Panelist0:45
And I'm Franco Ordoñez. I cover the White House.
Ashley Lopez· Host0:47
And we're recording this podcast at 1:37 PM Eastern Time on Tuesday, May 5th, 2026. Today on the podcast, Iran and the United States exchanged fire yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz. Does this mean the ceasefire is over? Greg, I, I want to start with you. Can you tell us what's going on in the strait?
Greg Myre· Panelist1:05
Yeah. Yesterday, the US began what they're calling Project Freedom, and this comes after a month of r- relative calm. We've had the ceasefire. The talks about a peace agreement to end the war have been halting. It's been tense, but there wasn't shooting going on.
Ashley Lopez· Host1:24
Mm-hmm.
Greg Myre· Panelist1:24
Now, the US goal with Project Freedom is to open the strait, to break this