Energy Secretary Chris Wright got a blunt question Sunday morning: After seven months of fighting with Iran, are Americans looking at a new normal of tanker strikes, military escorts, and an open-ended confrontation in the Persian Gulf?
Wright didn't duck it. The United States remains open to negotiations, he said, but its immediate military mission includes stopping Iranian oil and gas exports. He plainly described the goal: "We are strangling their economy" to force a change in Tehran's policies or leadership.
From the Conservative Daily News:
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright outlined America’s long-term goal for securing global trade passing through the Strait of Hormuz even as its conflict with Iran threatens such traffic.
Wright touted the sustained traffic transiting the Strait of Hormuz before telling Dana Bash during a “State of the Union” interview Sunday that securing the passageway “shouldn’t be just the United States’s responsibility” looking forward. His appearance on the CNN show comes the day after U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces reported taking out three Iranian oil tankers.
“The president says the Strait of Hormuz is under U.S. control. Just yesterday, the U.S. struck three Iranian tankers in retaliation for Iran firing missiles at U.S. warships. Meanwhile, The New York Times reports that Iran struck at least 23 merchant ships in the Strait in the last two months,” Bash said before asking Wright, “Does that sound to you like it’s a situation completely under control?”
“Our transits through the Strait are averaging over 9 million barrels a day now. And with the access pipelines that go around the Strait, we’re probably two-thirds or more of pre-conflict flows,” Wright responded. “So Iranians are still causing trouble, but the United States Navy is winning that battle.”
Bash then asked Wright if he is suggesting that the U.S. Navy is going to have to stay in the Strait “indefinitely” to maintain the current flow of oil and tankers.
“Oh, I think we’ll see a change in the Iranian regime, or certainly a change in their policy if they want to become a trading nation again and engage with the world,” Wright said. “But they have not lightly given up their nuclear weapons program.”
The comments came after U.S. forces struck three Iranian oil tankers Saturday. U.S. Central Command said Iranian ballistic missiles had targeted American warships.
Two tankers were disabled, while a third was destroyed. The military said the ships belonged to a shadow network helping finance Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Wright's argument was straightforward. President Donald Trump still prefers a negotiated settlement, but the administration isn't counting on one. Wright said Iran's nuclear capabilities are being degraded militarily while its economy is being squeezed through reduced energy exports and sanctions. He also left open the possibility that a nuclear agreement might have to wait for a different Iranian government.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been delivering the economic half of the same message.
Bessent said Saturday that Trump's blockade and Treasury sanctions amount to "one of the most powerful one-two punches" ever used for economic isolation.
From Breitbart News:
During an appearance on FNC’s “My View” on Saturday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent praised the impact of U.S. policy regarding Iran. According to Bessent, the blockade paired with economic sanctions was having a crippling impact on the Iranian regime.
“Just to stay with the Strait of Hormuz for a moment, you’ve also noted that you say the U.S. and China actually have more in common than we disagree on when it comes to safely navigating the Strait of Hormuz,” host Lara Trump said. “I think the question for a lot of Americans is really how much can we trust China? They are still taking oil from Iran, so how do you navigate that situation?”
Bessent replied, “Well, one of the things we’ve done, and what the president’s done, is fantastic sequencing. So we are running Operation Economic Outcast right now, and this is the greatest economic isolation operation in the history of the world. We are going to asphyxiate this regime.”
“Now we have the blockade, and because of the blockade, the oil is not getting out,” he continued. “So there’s probably only about 30 million barrels of Iranian crude oil left that China hasn’t bought. So that will run out soon, and there will be no problem with China buying because they have no product, so the blockade is — the blockade is working. It’s working like nothing we’ve ever seen, and the combination, everyone says, “Oh, sanctions don’t work. I can tell you, blockade and sanctions are one of the most powerful one-two punches in the history of economic isolation.”
He argued that China's purchases of Iranian crude will eventually become irrelevant if Iran can't move the oil out of its ports.
The administration has given the financial campaign a name: Operation Economic Outcast. Treasury launched it Aug. 24 with the stated goal of cutting Iran off from the financial networks, banks, oil revenues, and sanctions-evasion systems keeping the regime funded.
The campaign moved again Friday when Treasury sanctioned a Turkish financial institution and its subsidiaries for allegedly helping Iran's Revolutionary Guard move money internationally.
From the Treasury Department:
Announced by Secretary Bessent on August 24, 2026, dubbed Economic D-Day, Operation Economic Outcast is severing the remaining economic lifelines that sustain the Iranian regime. Treasury has mapped the networks, facilitators, and financial channels that Iran uses to smuggle oil, evade sanctions, and fund terror. Working with partners across the U.S. government, the European Union, United Kingdom, Gulf partners, and others, Treasury is targeting any source of the regime’s illicit revenue, as well as its sanctions evasion schemes to move funds.
Operation Economic Outcast significantly expanded sanctions risk for those who continue to choose to do business with Iran. Treasury warned that any entity facilitating money laundering or sanctions evasion on behalf of Iran risks being cut off from the U.S. financial system. It also expanded secondary sanctions exposure for those who continue doing business with the Iranian regime and will accelerate the pace of U.S. enforcement. More information on Operation Economic Outcast is available here.
Because Iran is already subject to comprehensive U.S. sanctions, in order to generate revenue and transfer funds abroad, it relies on multi-jurisdictional shadow banking networks that often provide key access to U.S. dollar correspondent banking relationships. Iran uses these shadow banking networks to launder funds, procure weapons, and bankroll its regional terrorist proxy groups. These networks rely on financial institutions such as Golden Global Bank, and Operation Economic Outcast will continue to identify these banks and remove their access to the U.S. dollar.
Bessent warned financial institutions supporting Tehran that Treasury intends to keep identifying and sanctioning them.
None of it has forced Iran to change its position yet. Tehran continues threatening shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, and maritime traffic has fallen sharply following the latest exchange of attacks. Iran has also threatened tougher retaliation if American strikes continue.
Wright and Bessent spent the weekend explaining what Washington believes comes next: military pressure on Iran's energy exports, financial pressure on the institutions keeping Tehran connected to the world economy, and negotiations if Iran decides the price has become too high.
The unanswered question is how long Tehran is willing to pay that price.
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