By Jack Phillips
Contributing Writer
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that the United States is allowing Iran to transport oil through the disputed Strait of Hormuz to ensure the rest of the world is supplied.
“The Iranian ships have been getting out already, and we’ve let that happen to supply the rest of the world,” Bessent told CNBC, in response to a question about Iranian oil tankers traversing through the strait.
Since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began on Feb. 28, a number of oil tankers have been unable to pass through the waterway, considered strategically important for the world’s oil supplies.
U.S. President Donald Trump has been asking other countries that use the Strait of Hormuz for oil to help the United States protect oil vessels from Iranian attacks, although no country has publicly said they will get involved.
Oil price increases have driven up gas prices across the United States, according to the American Automobile Association, which said the national average is now $3.79 per gallon as of Tuesday, up more than 80 cents from a month ago.
“We think that there will be a natural opening that the Iranians are letting out, and for now we’re fine with that,” Bessent said. “We want the world to be well supplied.”
To curb rising energy costs, the head of the International Energy Agency suggested member countries could release more oil, in addition to the 400 million barrels they have already agreed to draw from strategic reserves.
The U.S. military’s Central Command said in a Monday statement that it launched 90 strikes on targets on Iran’s Kharg Island, considered of strategic importance for the country’s oil production.
Trump told PBS over the weekend that the military did not touch the island’s oil production sites.
“I didn’t want to hit the pipes because, you know, years of work to put them together,” he said, adding that the U.S. military did not “even come close” to striking the oil infrastructure.
On Tuesday, the Israeli government said it killed a top Iranian security official, Ali Larijani, as well as another official, Gholamreza Soleimani, who led the Basij volunteer militia. The Iranian regime has not yet publicly responded to the claims.
Larijani, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, would be the most senior figure to die in the conflict since Iran’s top leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, was killed on the first day of Israeli-U.S. airstrikes.
There was no immediate response from Tehran regarding Larijani.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was weakening Iran’s leadership to give its people the opportunity to rise up and topple the government.
“It won’t happen in one go, it won’t happen easily. But if we persist, we will provide them with the opportunity to take their destiny into their own hands,” he said.
Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, named as the country’s top leader earlier this month, released a statement through state-run media last week vowing to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed and to continue to launch attacks against Middle Eastern nations.
Reuters contributed to this report.
