LONDON, March 12 (Reuters) – The U.S. Navy, perhaps with an international coalition, will escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz when it is militarily possible, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Sky News in an interview on Thursday.
“My belief, that as soon as it is militarily possible, the US Navy, perhaps with an international coalition, will be escorting vessels through,” Bessent said.
The plan to escort ships would go ahead as soon as the U.S. has “complete control of the skies and … (Iran’s) rebuilding capabilities for the missiles completely degraded,” he said.
U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and the subsequent response by Tehran have widened regional tensions and paralyzed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting vital Middle East oil and gas flows and sending energy prices higher.
Raising the stakes for the global economy, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it will block oil shipments from the Gulf unless the U.S. and Israeli attacks cease.
“There are, in fact, tankers coming through now, Iranian tankers, I believe some Chinese flag tankers have come through. So we know that they have not mined the straits,” Bessent said.
(Reporting by William James and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Caitlin Webber and David Ljunggren)
