US Treasury chief says Hormuz operation can ease oil shock

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that the US mission to restore maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz can help alleviate an ongoing oil shortage, adding that “help is on the way” for consumers.

After a US-Israeli military campaign targeting Iran that began on February 28, Tehran’s forces effectively closed the strait, a key route for oil and gas transit.

Global oil prices have since surged, as have costs at US gasoline pumps, squeezing American households as key midterm elections approach.

Meanwhile, Washington is maintaining a blockade of Iranian ports.

“They (Iran) are trying to cut off international freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, and the US is opening that up,” Bessent told Fox News in an interview on Monday.

“We have blockaded the ships going into or out of Iranian ports. Their economy is in freefall,” he added. “Their soldiers will not have a high tolerance for not getting paid.”

But the economic fallout has been widespread globally.

In the United States, the average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline was $4.46 as of Monday morning, according to the AAA motor club. This is a sharp rise from the $2.98 level seen on February 26 before the war.

“Help is on the way as of today,” Bessent said Monday.

The market, because of the conflict around the strait, is in deficit of between eight and 10 million barrels of oil a day right now, Bessent added.

“Every crude carrier that goes through has about two million barrels,” he said.

He expects there are “more than 150, 200 crude carriers that can come out,” and that the “market is going to be very well supplied.”

The US military said Monday that US guided-missile destroyers have passed through the Strait of Hormuz and entered the Gulf as part of its new mission. It denied Iranian state media reports that a US warship was struck by missile fire.

US President Donald Trump has indefinitely extended what was an initial two-week ceasefire that brought a halt to fighting.

But the conflict, and its widespread economic fallout, remains unresolved.