Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to discuss the Iran war, rising oil prices, market volatility, Fed uncertainty, Powell’s future and the US strategy to stabilize the global economy.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US government will not intervene in oil futures markets as the administration tries to end supply disruptions linked to the Iran conflict, saying Washington’s response will focus on increasing supply instead.
“We’re not doing that,” Bessent told FOX Business’ “Mornings With Maria” Thursday, when asked about the Treasury’s possible intervention in the futures market. “We don’t intervene in financial markets. We provide physical markets.”
In an interview with Maria Bartiromo, Bessent said the administration has prepared a coordinated supply response designed to limit the impact of any short-term disruption around the Strait of Hormuz. He said the US has already moved to “remove” Russian oil cargoes already in the water, estimated at about 130 million barrels, and could do the same with about 140 million barrels of Iranian oil on the float.
“In fact, when we took out the floating Iranian oil, we would have intervened and we would have created an excess of 260 million barrels of energy,” Bessent said, calling that a “physical intervention” rather than a financial one.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the key to keeping US oil prices low is to increase global oil supply. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Bessent said the capacity could help cover what he described as a temporary shortfall of 10 to 14 million barrels a day if shipping is disrupted, providing about three weeks of market stability. He also pointed to the release of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve consisting of 400 million barrels approved last week and said that the US could act inconsistently if needed.
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“The largest coordinated SPR release in history, 400 million barrels, was approved last week,” he said. “The US can do some more SPR issuance to keep the price down.”
About 20 percent of the world’s oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Iran. The Iranian Regime threatens to attack any ships that cross the ship without permission. (Fox News / Fox News)
Bessent laid out the strategy as part of a broader effort to balance pressure on Iran and stabilize the energy market. He said the US has refrained from striking Iran’s energy infrastructure despite increasing military operations, saying the aim is to maintain supplies while pressuring Tehran.
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“We have a lot of instruments,” Bessent said. “We have a lot to do.”
Dan Brouillette, former Secretary of Energy under Trump, discusses whether NATO should help secure the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices, the Cuban blackout and more on ‘Varney & Co.’
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Supplying the world with more oil from Iran will eventually lower prices in America, according to Bessent, who noted that the US does not rely on Middle Eastern oil but choking off oil through the Strait of Hormuz has indirectly disrupted supply and disrupted crude futures markets.
