Monday on FNC’s “America’s Newsroom,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued Iranian efforts to shut down the Strait of Hormuz were ineffective and that the United States had control of the strait.
According to Bessent, Iran’s navy had been wiped out, thus the threat to ship traffic was a “band of pirates.”
“Let’s start with the top-line headline that’s happening right now,” Fox News host Bill Hemmer said. “Two U.S.-flagged merchant ships have gone through the Hormuz Strait. What can you tell us about where we are today as we begin a new week in the blockade?”
Bessent replied, “Yes. So, let’s level set here. I think the Iranians are starting to believe their own propaganda. And just to be clear, the leadership is hunkered down in bunkers all over the country. And, you know, I don’t think they know what’s going on. But what is going on is that, you know, they’re reduced. Their navy is not a navy anymore. It’s a band of pirates. They are trying to cut off international freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. is opening that up. This is a humanitarian effort.
I can tell you two weeks ago was IMF World Bank Week in Washington, and I had numerous countries come up to me, some of the poorest, some of the most vulnerable, and asked us to do this. Because it’s not only energy that’s in there, it’s fertilizer, it’s food transport, it’s LPG for more than the billion-plus people in India used to cook. So, we are saying the Iranians do not have control of the Strait. We have absolute control of the strait. We have blockaded the ships going into or out of Iranian ports. Their economy is in freefall.
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