Washington DC - The US military is currently "not ready" to escort tankers through the critical Strait of Hormuz because all its assets are focused on striking Iran, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Thursday.
Wright's comments came as an attack on two oil tankers off Iraq killed at least one person, and oil prices briefly soared past $100.
Since launching HIS war on Iran, President Donald Trump has sought to calm the markets by claiming oil tankers would be protected and reinsurance facilities provided for shipping companies – but no escorts have so far taken place.
"It'll happen relatively soon, but it can't happen now. We're simply not ready," Wright told CNBC, two days after he had to delete an X post falsely claiming that the Navy had escorted a tanker through the strait.
"All of our military assets right now are focused on destroying Iran's offensive capabilities and the manufacturing industry that supplies their offensive capabilities."
He added that it was "quite likely" such escorts would be taking place by the end of the month.
Wright defends waiver for sanctioned Russian oil
As Iran launches a new wave of attacks against Gulf energy targets, the International Energy Agency said the US-Israeli war "is creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market."
IEA member countries on Wednesday agreed to unlock 400 million barrels of oil from their reserves – their largest release ever.
The US will be releasing 172 million barrels, Wright said, under a swap arrangement that would see 200 million barrels flow back to its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) "within a year."PR
Wright also said he had meetings at the Pentagon on Thursday to discuss possible US Navy escorts for tankers. He told CNN on Thursday that he believed markets were "very well supplied with oil right now" and that short-term pricing was "based on psychology more than flows of oil."
The US has also moved to ease sanctions on some Russian at-sea oil, notably allowing India a temporary waiver to buy that oil in order to address supply issues caused by the war.
Wright argued that the waiver did not amount to "sanctions relief" for Russia because the oil was already bound for China.