US not yet ready to escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz - Energy Ministry
Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has come to a near standstill since the outbreak of war in the Middle East / Photo: CeltStudio / Shutterstock.com
The U.S. Navy is not yet ready to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, strategically important for global supplies, the country's Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in an interview with CNBC. Such a possibility was not previously ruled out by President Donald Trump. But according to the head of the Energy Ministry, it is likely to appear only by the end of the month.
"It's going to happen pretty soon, but it's not possible right now," Wright said. - We're just not ready. All of our military resources are now focused on destroying Iran's offensive capabilities and the industrial infrastructure that supports those offensive capabilities."
On Tuesday, March 10, the Energy Secretary published a post on social network X, which claimed that the U.S. Navy had successfully escorted a tanker through the strait. This caused a sharp drop in oil prices, but the post was soon deleted and the White House denied the information.
On Thursday, March 12, the cost of Brent crude oil jumped and at moments exceeded $100 per barrel - after new Iranian attacks on tankers. At the time of publication of this text, Brent was trading around $98 per barrel, North American WTI - just below the $93 mark.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
