United States (US) Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said that energy prices that have surged because of the US-Israel war on Iran should decline later this year.
“Oil prices on the other side of this conflict are going to be much lower,” Bessent told US media.
Iran is not getting much money in its attempts to put tolls on ships traversing the Strait of Hormuz, Bessent added.
The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway once carrying roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas, remains effectively closed after the United States and Iran imposed competing blockades.
Naval blockades are one of the oldest weapons in warfare, requiring no ground troops or invasion, just the ability to cut off what an enemy needs to survive.
These blockades have reshaped economies, societies, and alliances across generations, sometimes with instant shock waves, sometimes with effects only seen later.
Recently, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul spoke to his Iranian counterpart and called for the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened and for Tehran to end its nuclear programme.
“As a close US ally we share the same goal: Iran must completely and verifiably renounce nuclear weapons and immediately release the Strait of Hormuz as [US] Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio also demands,” Wadephul wrote on X.
Im Telefonat mit @araghchi habe ich unterstrichen: 🇩🇪 unterstützt eine Verhandlungslösung. Als enger US-Verbündeter teilen wir das gleiche Ziel: Iran muss vollständig & nachprüfbar auf Kernwaffen verzichten & die Straße von Hormus sofort freigeben, wie es auch @SecRubio fordert.
— Johann Wadephul (@AussenMinDE) May 3, 2026
