Have to escalate to de-escalate: US hints more strikes on Iran to end Gulf war
India Today
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US may need to intensify strikes on Iran to end the conflict. This came soon after Trump threatened to hit Iran's energy plants amid soaring oil prices and Strait of Hormuz tensions.
The United States may need to 'escalate' its attacks against Iran to be able to wind down the war, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday, after President Donald Trump gave seemingly contradictory trajectories for the US military campaign.
Trump on Saturday threatened to 'obliterate' Iranian energy plants if Tehran did not fully open the pivotal Strait of Hormuz, just a day after saying US objectives were "very close" and that he was considering "winding down" the war.
Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if Trump was winding down or escalating the war, Bessent said: "They're not mutually exclusive. Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate".
"This is the only language the Iranians understand," he argued.
Iran's threats against shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global gas and oil supplies flow, have caused energy prices to soar around the world.
Bessent, as part of efforts to abate market turmoil, has temporarily lifted US sanctions on Iranian and Russian oil that had already been loaded onto ships.
Leon Panetta said Iran war was not an unexpected risk. He pointed out that for years, US security officials have known Iran could disrupt global oil supplies by blocking the Strait of Hormuz. According to him, this was a well-known danger, but one that appears to have been overlooked in the current conflict.
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Tokyo has no immediate plans to seek arrangements to allow passage through the Strait of Hormuz for stranded Japanese vessels, Motegi said, adding it was "extremely important" to create conditions that allow all ships to navigate through the narrow waterway.