Listen to this article with a free account
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday defended strikes against Iranian infrastructure since the United States and Israel began their joint war against the country in February, saying that “sometimes you have to escalate to deescalate.”
His comments came just hours after President Donald Trump. wrote on Truth Social that he was giving Iranian leaders 48 hours to open the Strait of Hormuz or risk U.S. military strikes that would “hit and wipe out their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE LARGEST FIRST!” »
Bessent defended Trump’s rhetoric, saying it is “the only language Iranians understand.”
Early Sunday, a spokesman for Iran’s military command headquarters warned that if the United States hits oil infrastructure, Iran will respond in kind.
“If Iran’s oil and energy infrastructure is attacked, then the fuels, energy, IT systems and desalination infrastructure used by America and the regime in the region will be affected,” Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaqari said, according to the official Iranian news agency IRNA.
In recent weeks, the United States has avoided hitting Iran’s oil infrastructure amid ongoing military strikes against the Middle Eastern country.
Last week, Trump told NBC News that the US military “totally decimated” the Iranian island of Kharg, “except that, as you know, I did nothing about the power lines because it would take years to rebuild them.”
He added in this interview “we might come back to it a few more times just for fun.”
In the same interview, the president said he was working with international allies on plans to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key sea passage for oil tankers that has been closed since the start of the war. The closure led Oil prices will rise globally and also led to higher gas prices in the United States.
Bessent also responded Sunday to comments he made this week about Kharg Island, a key hub for Iranian oil production, in which he told Fox Business, “The military assets on Kharg Island have been destroyed,” adding, “We’ll see what happens — whether it eventually becomes a U.S. asset.” »
The Treasury secretary did not explain what it would look like if Kharg Island became a U.S. asset, but told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker that “all options are on the table,” including sending U.S. troops to secure the island.
U.S. officials told NBC News last week that Trump evaluate options for sending US troops on Kharg Island to secure its oil facilities, located about 15 miles off the coast of mainland Iran.
Bessent also defended the Treasury Department’s position decision last week to ease certain sanctions on Iran by “authorizing the sale of Iranian oil currently stuck at sea,” as the Trump administration seeks to address rising energy costs.
Announcing the move on Saturday, Bessent said it would “quickly bring approximately 140 million barrels of oil to global markets” and help “relieve temporary supply pressures caused by Iran,” although some experts question why the United States would boost Iran’s economy in the midst of war.
The oil that the United States allows for sale, Bessent said Sunday, “will always be sold to the Chinese” at a discount.
The Treasury secretary added that “we always anticipated this eventuality” and called the move “jujitsu by the Iranians” by “using their own oil against them.”
Bessent demurred when asked why the United States would allow Iran to profit from oil, saying: “Iran is already getting a huge amount of money, because Iran is the biggest sponsor of state terrorism and China is funding it.” » This sale, he added, would help the United States’ Asian allies, such as Japan, Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, appeared on “Meet the Press” after Bessent and criticized the Treasury secretary’s comments, telling Welker: “This administration has completely lost touch with reality. This war is spiraling out of control. Prices are going up for millions of Americans.”
The senator directly responded to Bessent’s comment about the need to escalate the war before deescalating it by comparing the Iranian conflict to past wars.
“It’s like they’ve never read a history book,” Murphy said. “That’s exactly what our leaders said in the middle of Vietnam and over 20 years of mismanagement in Afghanistan.”
“We must end this war,” added the Connecticut senator.
