Minister of Energy, interview on US broadcast... “Continue escorting U.S. forces through new ports”

Minister of Energy, interview on US broadcast... “Continue escorting U.S. forces through new ports”

(Washington = Yonhap News) Correspondent Park Seong-min = The U.S. Donald Trump administration announced on the 21st (local time) that ship traffic is continuing through the strait despite Iran's declaration of resealing the Strait of Hormuz in protest against Israel's continued air strikes on Lebanon.

In an interview with Fox News on this day, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said, "Yesterday, 67 ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz. The day before, there were 55," adding, "Crude oil and petroleum products are at almost the same level as before the conflict. Currently, ship passage through the Strait is going quite well."

“This is due to the presence of US troops. Iran still has not cleared the mines in the central route (of the strait), but the US has opened a separate route in the south,” he said. “We have been escorting ships through that route for the past few weeks, and today the volume is very high.”

The previous day, the Iranian military declared a re-closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to Israel's continued airstrikes on Lebanon, but the U.S. Central Command immediately denied the Iranian military's announcement, saying that Iran does not control the strait and that ship traffic is continuing.

Secretary Wright said there are still concerns about the safety of passage for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, and that the issue of the Iranian threat has not yet been completely resolved. “What we are showing Iran is that shipping through the strait is possible even if Iran does not cooperate, and if they do not want to make any agreement, we can destroy their nuclear program,” he said.

He also emphasized, “They can only receive compensation if they stop their destructive actions,” and added, “It (destructive actions) will not block the traffic flow in the Strait of Hormuz.”

In response to criticism that the resumption of Iranian oil and oil product exports immediately after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the U.S. and Iran is only advantageous to Iran, Secretary Wright countered, saying, "It is a marginal benefit." He added, "We will allow Iranian crude oil exports and we will have dialogue with Iran. If we can pave the way to completely end Iran's attempts to develop its nuclear program, that would be a tremendous victory for the world."