U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the U.S. conflict in Iran will likely come to an end in the “next few weeks” amid uncertainty about oil prices linked to whether the strategic Strait of Hormuz could be kept open.
“I think that this conflict will certainly come to an end in the next few weeks,” Wright told ABC News’ “This Week” on March 15. “Could be sooner than that, but the conflict will come to the end in the next few weeks.”
Wright, responding to a question about elevated gas prices in the United States, said that the war’s end could lead to a “pushing down of prices after that.”
The war started on Feb. 28 as the U.S. and Israeli militaries pounded targets in Iran, killing a number of its leaders, including regime leader Ali Khamenei. Iran has responded by firing missiles and drones at countries in the Middle East as well as targeting commercial oil vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, which has led to a significant drop in traffic through the waterway.
Iran’s new leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, released a statement last week through state-run media outlets that Iran would keep the strait closed as the war continues. He also said Iran would continue to launch attacks on its Persian Gulf neighbors.
Iran’s foreign minister on March 15 said the Strait of Hormuz was open to all traffic except U.S. and Israeli ships.
Last week, oil prices hovered at about $100 per barrel, which sent the average nationwide regular gasoline prices up more than 50 cents since the conflict started.
With the U.S.–Israeli war on Iran in its third week, U.S. President Donald Trump said U.S. strikes had “totally demolished” much of Kharg Island, a critical hub for Iranian oil exports, and warned of more potential strikes.
Trump also told NBC News that Tehran appeared ready to make a deal to end the fighting but that “the terms aren’t good enough yet,” also raising the possibility that Mojtaba Khamenei may have been killed.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since he was named as leader, was in full health and managing the situation.
Trump himself has dismissed worries about spiking gas prices for U.S. consumers, saying they will fall back quickly. But he has called on China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz to ensure that shipping can pass.
“The Countries of the World that receive Oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage, and we will help—A LOT!” Trump wrote in a social media post on Truth Social on March 14. “The U.S. will also coordinate with those Countries so that everything goes quickly, smoothly, and well.”
During the March 15 interview, Wright was also asked whether the U.S. military struck Iranian energy infrastructure on Kharg Island, which provides the seaport for much of Iran’s oil products, and he responded by saying that only its military installations were targeted.
“The United States did not target their energy infrastructure in Kharg Island,” he said. “Just the military infrastructure that’s on the island. But since this conflict started, Iran has been attacking the energy infrastructure all around the Gulf, even among nations with no hostilities towards Iran.”
