U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth holds a briefing amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 2, 2026.
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday brushed aside concerns that the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz because of the Iran war, which has spiked oil prices, would continue being a problem for the U.S. and the world for much longer.
“We have been dealing with it, and don’t need to worry about it,” Hegseth said at a Pentagon press briefing.
Hegseth criticized media reports that claimed the United States military lacked a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz before the war began.
“We planned for it. We recognize it,” Hegseth told a reporter who asked him Friday why the Pentagon had not planned for the strait being choked off to traffic.
“Ultimately, we want to do it sequentially in the way that makes the most sense for what we want to achieve.”
Neither Hegseth nor Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine said how the U.S. would open up the strait to the traffic of oil tankers and other ships.
On Thursday morning, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC that the U.S. Navy is not ready to escort oil tankers through the strait. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, hours later, told Sky News that the U.S. Navy, and possibly an international coalition, would begin escorting ships through the strait as soon as “militarily possible.”
Asked how soon the Strait of Hormuz would be open to traffic, Hegseth said Friday, “The only thing prohibiting transit in the straits right now is Iran shooting at shipping.”
“That’s not a strait that we’re not going to allow to be contested or without a flow of goods,” Hegseth said.
Caine, when asked about removing mines from the Strait of Hormuz laid by Iran, said, “We retain a range of options to solve a whole variety of problems.”
