Energy Secretary Chris Wright says Iran must be 'put to an end,' predicts brief oil-price spike

Energy Secretary Chris Wright told an on-air interview that U.S. military action aims to end what he described as 47 years of Iranian hostility and predicted any attendant rise in oil and gasoline prices would be temporary.

"For 47 years, Iran has... waged war against the United States," Wright said, adding that the current engagement will leave "an Iran that's defanged, that can't threaten its neighbors, can't threaten American soldiers." Wright told the interviewer that while there is a "temporary period of elevated energy prices," he expected it to last "in the worst case, weeks," not months.

The exchange began after the host, Margaret, noted that about 50,000 U.S. troops are deployed, that "6 Americans that we know of so far [are] killed in action," and that public polling shows roughly 56% disapproval of U.S. involvement. Margaret also said gasoline prices were "up 14 percent in the past week" and cited a national average of "$3.45." She pressed Wright on how high oil and gas prices might go.

Wright responded that "the world is very well supplied with oil" and that "there's no energy shortage at all in the Western Hemisphere," arguing the current price moves reflect "emotional reactions and fear" about a long war. He said the United States is a "large net exporter of natural gas" and a net oil exporter, but acknowledged that disruptions to refinery feedstock in Asia and Europe can cause localized price spikes.

On the Strait of Hormuz, Margaret asked when normal tanker flows — she cited about 20,000,000 barrels per day — might return. Wright said U.S. military assets were focused on preventing Iran from threatening ship traffic and said missile launches are "down 90%" and drone launches "down over 80%," adding he expected ship traffic to return "in the relatively near term."

Asked about tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Wright said the United States still holds "over 400,000,000 barrels" and is "more than happy to use that if it's needed," but reiterated the primary bottleneck is getting crude to refineries in Europe and Asia rather than a domestic supply shortage.

Wright also proposed using Russian crude that he said is currently floating offshore: "There's over a 100,000,000 barrels of floating Russian crude waiting in line to deliver to China," he said, and suggested, "with no change in U.S. policy towards Russia, we told the Indians, bring that into your refineries," as a pragmatic short-term measure to ease refinery feedstock shortages.

The interview focused on policy framing and market logistics; Wright emphasized the administration's objective to reduce Iran's future capacity to threaten regional stability and said that, in his view, such measures will enable greater energy production and lower prices over the longer term. The segment closed with no immediate policy announcements or formal actions.