Treasury Sec. Bessent: ‘The Iranians Do Not Have Control of the Strait; We Have Absolute Control of the Strait’

EXCERPT:

BESSENT: “Yeah, 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, they 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 ask 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, and everyone says they have the high tolerance for pain. Well, their soldiers will not have a high tolerance for not getting paid.”