(March 30): US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated optimism about a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz for passage of cargo ships and said the administration is steadily moving to address the shortage of global oil supplies.
“Over time, the US is going to retake control of the straits, and there will be freedom of navigation — whether it is through US escorts or a multinational escort,” Bessent said in an interview on Monday on Fox News.
Bessent said the global oil market is “in deficit about 10 to 12 million barrels a day, and we are making up for that deficit”. The International Energy Agency’s coordinated release of strategic reserves amounts to about four million barrels a day towards that deficit, he said.
The Treasury chief also pointed to the Trump adminstration’s move to unsanction Russian and Iranian oil “that was already on the water”. He argued that this decision didn’t net either US rival additional funds, saying that there was “no extra money for either one of those regimes”.
Asked about fears of renewed disruption to supplies via the Red Sea, due to activity on the Iranian-backed Houthi militant group, Bessent said, “The Houthis have been very quiet so far.”
Houthis launched ballistic missiles at Israel on Saturday, and Bessent said their shelling “was Israel-specific”. With regard to the Red Sea, Bessent indicated that “they have been pretty quiet so far, and I would expect them to likely remain that way”.
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