A short-term disruption... Haaaaa Haaaa Haaaaaaa............

Energy Secretary Chris Wright says Iran war will likely end in weeks

He has repeatedly dismissed rising oil prices as “a short-term disruption.”

By Jacob Wendler

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran will likely end in a matter of weeks and signaled that he expects skyrocketing oil prices to come down after that.

“Americans are feeling it right now. Americans will feel it for a few more weeks,” Wright told NBC’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “But at the end, we will have removed the greatest risk to global energy supplies. We’ll go to a world more abundant in energy, more affordable in energy, and less risky for American soldiers and commerce in the Middle East.”

“I think that’s the likely time frame,” he added, when asked if “a few more weeks” reflected his expectations for the duration of the war.

Trump said last week the war was “pretty well complete,” although the president told Welker in a Saturday interview that Iran is ready to make a deal to end the war but he would not accept it “because the terms aren’t good enough yet.”

Wright’s comments come as Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sent crude oil prices soaring above $100 a barrel, with worries that gasoline prices could continue to rise across the country and globe if the war continues.

Wright said while “there, of course, are tensions with China,” he expects the country to be “a constructive partner” in working to reopen the strait.

“The United States is always in dialogue with the Chinese,” he said. “They’re the second largest economy in the world, and they’re a very important nation in the world. Opening the Straits of Hormuz is even more important for China than it is for the United States.”

Trump said in a Saturday morning social media post that several countries, including China, France, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom, would “hopefully” be deploying war ships to Iran to help reopen the strait. America’s allies in Asia, including Japan and South Korea, have been scrambling to address the energy crisis precipitated by the war with little guidance from the Trump administration.

During a separate appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Wright also pushed back on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s assertion that the Trump administration did not plan adequately for Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

“He’s either being ridiculously naive or he’s simply being disingenuous, which is more likely,” Wright told host Martha Raddatz. “Everyone knows the issue with the Strait of Hormuz. Of course, meticulous planning went into what might happen with the Strait of Hormuz, how to deal with that.”

Wright added that “many contingency plans were taken” but did not specify what plans were made.

The White House is considering several steps to bring oil prices down — including possibly waiving a century-old law that promotes the use of American vessels in maritime commerce — with chief of staff Susie Wiles leading the charge on the effort.

The U.S. agreed to release 172 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve last week as part of a historic emergency release by the International Energy Agency, and the Treasury lifted some sanctions on Russian crude on Thursday to help ease oil prices.

Wright said on NBC that the administration hoped to bring gas prices below $3 a gallon by the summer but added that “there’s no guarantees in war” and that the timeline for bringing prices down remains unclear.

Administration officials and Trump allies told POLITICO the White House believes it can withstand heightened oil prices for as long as four weeks — but even after the war comes to an end, it’s unlikely prices will snap back to where they stood before the U.S. and Israel began bombarding Iran.

Wright dismissed Iran’s warning that crude oil prices could rise to $200 a barrel on Sunday, telling Welker: “I would pay no attention to what Iran says.