The Suez Crisis stopped the British Empire. Will Hormuz defeat the US?

What the report says

Al Jazeera’s latest Deja Vu podcast episode examines how oil, shipping and conflict have shaped strategic waterways in the Gulf, using the 1956 Suez Crisis as a historical comparison for current concerns about the Strait of Hormuz. The episode, published on 23 August 2026, frames the question of whether disruption in Hormuz could have consequences comparable to the Suez Canal shutdown seven decades earlier.

According to Al Jazeera, the episode revisits the moment when Egypt closed the Suez Canal in 1956 after a revolutionary government took control of a key global shipping route. The closure interrupted oil transport, triggered conflict with Britain, France and Israel, and eventually ended with the canal reopening under Egyptian control. The broadcaster presents that episode as a turning point that changed the region and the wider global economy.

The podcast features political scientist and author Laleh Khalili, whose work includes Sinews of War and Trade. The production credits listed by Al Jazeera name Mohamed Hassan, Marcos Bartolome and Sonia Bhagat as producers, with Alexandra Locke editing and Adam Abou-Gad as engagement producer.

More broadly, the story places today’s Gulf shipping risks in historical context: control of narrow waterways can carry outsized economic and geopolitical weight. That background helps explain why the Strait of Hormuz remains closely watched by governments, markets and energy shippers.