The Trump administration’s stated mission in the war with Iran has shifted. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Sunday that the purpose of the campaign is now to ensure oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, an admission that comes as the administration faces growing criticism over the conflict’s length and cost.
Wright appeared on ABC’s “This Week” and told Jonathan Karl that 67 ships passed through the strait on Saturday, a modest increase from 55 on Friday, as the US military escorts vessels through a southern channel. Before the war, the daily average was nearly 140 transits.
“I think it’s that returning flows back towards normal without any cooperation at all from Iran, that’s the leverage President Trump used to get the Iranians to come to the table,” Wright said. “Maybe they can make a deal that brings some benefit to Iran. Maybe they can’t.”
The comments come more than a week after hostilities between the US and Iran resumed, following the collapse of a 60-day interim ceasefire that was meant to permanently end the fighting. Both sides now accuse each other of violating the agreement.
Wright acknowledged that Trump knew the war would drive up energy prices in the short term but said the president “had the courage to take the action anyway.” The Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil supply transited before the war, has been the central battleground in the economic dimension of the conflict.
A maritime organization overseen by the US Navy said Sunday that the threat to shipping remains severe, “with deliberate hostile action considered highly likely.” Only eight transits were recorded on Saturday and three on Friday.
The energy secretary’s remarks drew a sharp response from Democrats. One called the conflict a “war of choice”, language that echoes the criticism leveled at the Iraq War two decades ago.
Trump, meanwhile, took to Truth Social with a fresh threat directed at Tehran.
“Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble,” the president wrote. “If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!”
The war, which began with joint US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, has now entered its fifth month. The administration’s framing of the mission has evolved over time, from what was originally described as a punitive response to Iranian aggression, to a blockade aimed at halting Iranian oil shipments, and now, explicitly, to keeping the strait open.
Vice President Vance, who was in Switzerland on Sunday for talks with Iranian officials, told Fox News earlier in the week that there was no evidence Iran had blocked the strait, and touted what he called a record-breaking amount of oil moving through the waterway.
The conflicting signals from the administration, a secretary of energy describing flows returning to normal, a vice president claiming record volumes, and a president threatening more strikes, reflect the uncertainty of a campaign that was supposed to be over in days but has instead stretched into months.
The US in the past week reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its crude oil shipments. The military said Saturday it had redirected five ships and disabled one since then.
Whether the pivot to an oil-flow mission is a strategic recalculation or a rhetorical shift to justify a war that the administration cannot end remains unclear. What is clear is that the war, and the Strait of Hormuz, are now the center of a conflict that shows no signs of resolution.