Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday that the U.S. Navy will “soon” begin escorting oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz to protect them from Iranian terrorist attacks.
“My belief is that as soon as it is militarily possible, the U.S. Navy, perhaps with an international coalition, will be escorting vessels through,” Bessent told Sky News on Friday.
“There are, in fact, tankers coming through now, Iranian tankers, I believe some Chinese flag tankers have come through. So we know that they have not mined the straits,” he continued.
Sky News reported that Bessent had to take a two-hour break from the interview because he was called into the White House Situation Room. Upon his return, the interviewer asked if plans for naval escort had been discussed, and Bessent responded: “Your words, not mine.”
On Thursday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright also said naval escorts for tankers could begin “soon,” perhaps by the end of March, but the forces necessary for the mission were not available yet.
“It’ll happen relatively soon but it can’t happen now,” Wright told CNBC.
“We’re simply not ready. All of our military assets right now are focused on destroying Iran’s offensive capabilities and the manufacturing industry that supplies their offensive capabilities,” he explained.
Wright told CNBC he was scheduled for meetings at the Pentagon on Thursday evening to discuss plans for protecting oil tankers.
On Tuesday, Wright caused a bit of a stir when his account on social media platform X claimed the U.S. Navy had “successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz.” The post led to an immediate drop in worldwide oil prices, but it was later deleted by Wright’s office.
“I was made aware of this post. I haven’t had a chance to talk to the Energy secretary about it directly, however, I know the post was taken down pretty quickly and I can confirm that the U.S. Navy has not escorted a tanker or a vessel at this time,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday.
In a Fox News interview that aired on Friday, President Donald Trump said it was possible that U.S. warships could begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, although he felt intensified U.S. airstrikes against Iran’s weapons might make that unnecessary.
“We would do it if we needed to. But, you know, hopefully things are going to go very well. We’re going to see what happens,” Trump said.
“We’re going to be hitting them very hard over the next week,” Trump added.
In a Truth Social post ten days ago, Trump raised the possibility of U.S. Navy protection for oil tankers “as soon as possible.”
“No matter what, the United States will ensure the FREE FLOW of ENERGY to the WORLD,” he vowed.
Last Sunday, Trump told Brian Kilmeade of Fox News that Iran’s capabilities have been degraded significantly, so ship captains should “show some guts” and push through the Strait of Hormuz.
“These ships should go through the Strait of Hormuz and show some guts, there’s nothing to be afraid of. They have no navy, we sunk all their ships,” Trump told Kilmeade.
“Look, there is risk in the region, the region is volatile, their launchers, there’s just about 150 left, that’s just about 20% of totals, they can’t regenerate, they can’t make any more. We are in the region and need to act quickly on all these type of attacks,” Trump added.
Iran demonstrated that it remains a threat to international shipping by attacking several tankers this week, including strikes on Thursday that set two tankers ablaze off the coast of Iraq and caused at least one fatality. Iran released a video showing that it carried out one of the attacks with an explosive-laden drone boat.
A message purportedly written by Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, on Thursday vowed to continue attacks on any civilian vessel that attempts to transit the Strait of Hormuz without Iran’s permission.
“Certainly the lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must continue to be used,” the statement said.
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