Secretary Wright Joins NBC's Meet the Press - March 15, 2026

Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Secretary Wright, welcome to Meet the Press. Thanks for having me, Kristen. Thank you so much for being here. I want to start right there on gas prices, top of mind for Americans. Since the war began, the national average price for gasoline is up 24%, and diesel prices have jumped 32%. Mr. Secretary, when can Americans expect to see the price of gas come down? Yeah, after the conflict is over, you'll start to see prices come back down. But Iran immediately going to impede flow through the Straits of Hormuz, launching attacks at all of their neighbors, even those completely uninvolved in this conflict, just illustrates why it's so important to defang this regime. It's been the greatest supporter of terrorism in the world. The greatest killer of American soldiers over the last 20 years has been Iran, and we haven't fought a conflict against them until this. It's just this president did not want to kick this can down the road to the next administration. The world simply can't see a nuclear-armed Iran. And so I'm proud of his actions, but yes, it is a short-term disruption in the flow of energy. Americans are feeling it right now. Americans will feel it for a few more weeks. But at the end, we will have removed the greatest risk to global energy supplies. We'll go to a world more abundant in energy, more affordable in energy, and less risky for American soldiers and commerce in the Middle East. You say a few more weeks. Are you suggesting this war could be over, will be over in a few more weeks? I think that's the likely time frame, yes. I think the president came out early on saying he expected the need for four to six weeks to completely defang Iran's military capabilities. We started focused on the projection of distant power. So their navy's been destroyed, their air force has been destroyed. Their long-range missiles have been destroyed. Their ability to construct and build long-term missiles has been destroyed. And the effort continues now on more of their short-term threats, short-range missiles, drones. The military performance has been outstanding. But it's just critical for the world and critical for the United States that we remove this just growing threat from Iran, defying their ability to rain terror on their neighbors and the world. We're going to get to the military response, the Strait of Hormuz, momentarily, but let me just pin down a couple of questions here. Are you confident that gas will be back under $3 a gallon by the busy summer travel season, Mr. Secretary? There's a very good chance that'll be true. There's no guarantees in war. The time frame's still not entirely clear. But I think that's certainly a goal of the administration and very possible. OK. Well, the price of a barrel of oil closed above $103 on Friday. And the Iranians are warning of prices hitting $200 a barrel. Mr. Secretary, should Americans be bracing for, should they be worried that this war will actually drive the price of oil above $200 a barrel? So Iran, for 47 years, has called the United States the Great Satan. So because they call us the Great Satan, I don't think we are the Great Satan. In fact, clearly we're not. So I don't listen much to Iranian projections of what's going to happen. So that's a no? But there is disruptions of flow. Is that a no? Very important waterway. It's a, I would pay no attention to what Iran says, but there is a lot of energy that flows through the Straits of Hormuz. And depending upon the timing and the manner in which this conflict comes to an end, we're going to see some elevated pricing until we get there. Where it's going to go, we have done many, many actions to mitigate that price rise. You saw the announcement of a coordinated release of 400 million barrels of oil, with over 30 nations of the world participating in that. We've had allies in the Middle East that moved oil overseas before the conflict started. Heck, we just announced yesterday bringing on a meaningful amount of oil production in the state of California from offshore that California has fought foolishly to prevent new American oil to go into their own state. And we said enough is enough, and we've got new oil production coming on in California. So lots of actions we're taking to mitigate this price rise. In a post on Thursday, the president wrote, quote, the United States is the largest oil producer in the world by far. So when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money. But Mr. Secretary, previously, the president had argued that consumers benefit from lower oil prices. So which is it? Which is better for Americans, lower oil prices or higher oil prices? Oh, in general, lower oil prices. This president has been committed to low gasoline prices, low diesel prices, low travel prices. He ran on that agenda. He worked on it for four years in his first administration. So he's committed to low oil prices because 100 percent of Americans are affected by that. But he's just making an economic point that we're such a large producer of oil. It does bring a lot of money into the U.S. economy. It doesn't have the same impact on us as it does the other nations of the world when oil prices go up. But he's all about low gas prices, low diesel prices, low energy prices. You referenced the Strait of Hormuz earlier. Let's talk about it. It is one of the world's most vital shipping lanes. Shipping traffic in the Strait has slowed to a trickle. If that is the Strait of Hormuz safe for shipping right now, Mr. Secretary? No, no, it is not. That's one of the objectives at the end of this conflict is to reopen the Straits of Hormuz. But no, it is. Since the conflict began, Iran has impeded flow through the Straits of Hormuz. And that is still the case today. We have focused initially on their ability to project distant power, impeding flows in the Straits of Hormuz, which is right next to Iran. That's near-term power or near abroad power. So that's going to be an increasing focus of our military going forward. You know, President Trump told me on Saturday he's reaching out to other countries to enlist their help to secure the Strait of Hormuz. And then in a post later in the day, he named some of the countries, China, Japan, UK, France and South Korea. He told me some countries have committed to aiding the United States. Can you be specific with me, Mr. Secretary? Which countries specifically are going to help secure the Strait of Hormuz? So I won't get in front of the president or announcements on that. But I have been in dialogue with some of those nations. So I know that to be true. But, you know, I'm not going to I'm not going to leak any news in front of the president. But the world depends on the flows through Hormuz. And most importantly, the Asian nations, Japan, Korea, China, Thailand, India, a meaningful part of their total energy supplies come from the Straits of Hormuz. So of course, the whole world will be united on the need to open Hormuz. And clearly, we will have the support of other nations to achieve that objective. But in the short term, we have to end Iran's ability to kill American soldiers, terrorize their neighbors and continue to put global energy supplies at risk, as they've done for 47 years. Look, China was one of the names mentioned, which got a lot of attention, notable because they're a strategic partner of Iran. Is the U.S. prepared to share intelligence with China for it helping to secure the waterway? The United States is always in dialogue with the Chinese. They're the second largest economy in the world. And they're a very important nation in the world. Opening the Straits of Hormuz is even more important for China than it is for the United States. But we care about the global economy. We care first about Americans, but Americans live in a globalized world. So we care about all the nations. So there, of course, are tensions with China as well, but we will continue a productive dialogue. And I do expect China will be a constructive partner in reopening the Straits of Hormuz. OK. Is Iran laying mines in the Straits of Hormuz? Look, you see flow through the Straits of Hormuz right now. There were five tanker ships that went through the Straits last night carrying liquid petroleum gas, liquefied natural gas and crude oil. So we know flow through the Straits of Hormuz is possible. The risk is if Iran fires on those ships. A convoy flew through last night. Iran did not fire on them. Probably they made a deal with it. Very quickly, Mr. Secretary, there's a big debate over whether you all were prepared for what's happening in the Strait of Hormuz. If you were prepared, why is the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed right now? Because it's right near the Iranian shoreline. The world is abundantly supplied with oil and energy. We knew there would be a short term disruption in energy flows. And to hear Chuck Schumer say that we didn't, it's just so he knows how foolish that is. And to say stuff to try to undermine the United States in the midst of a world changing conflict just boggles my mind. But this mission was carefully planned out. It's been superbly executed. On the other side, we'll be in a much better place. The greatest driver of terrorism in the world, the greatest threat to global energy supplies will be defanged. Yes, we have disruption to get there. But we're going to be in a much, much better place in the not too distant future. Mr. Secretary, let's talk about Russia. The Treasury Department temporarily lifting sanctions on Russian oil this week amid reports that Russia is giving Iran intelligence to target U.S. assets in the region. Why is the United States rewarding Russia? So this is not rewarding Russia. I understand that it can be seen that way. How else can it be seen? Almost all of Russia's oil is- But Mr. Secretary, how else can it be seen if the U.S. is lifting sanctions on Russia? Because the oil we're lifting sanction on is already on the water waiting to unload in a Chinese port. But it'll wait there for six or eight weeks. So instead of letting that oil sit there idly, we told the Indians and then the broader nations of Asia, go ahead and buy that oil, bring it into your port now and keep your refineries running. That oil was already exported, already going to be sold. We're just changing the destination of where it'll be sold. And by doing that, we're keeping a little bit of a lid on oil prices and helping our allies across Asia. Mr. Secretary, when I pressed the president on lifting these sanctions on the phone, he told me that Ukrainian President Zelensky is, quote, far more difficult to deal with than Russian President Vladimir Putin. Do you agree with that statement by President Trump? I have not been involved in the peace negotiations there. All I can say is the president and the administration are deeply committed to trying to find a way to end this over four year war. It takes it takes a moderator like the United States and two nations to agree. I sure hope we can end that just murderous war that's been it's been going on for over four years. Russia's lost over a million men injured or killed in action in that battle. But Mr. Secretary, as a member of the Cabinet, what do you think? Do you think that President Zelensky has been more difficult to deal with than Vladimir Putin? Does that ring true for you? Look, that's I think President Trump is referring to peace negotiations. President Zelensky has fought valiantly, as the Ukrainians have, to save their nation. We have worked with them to help energize their nation under these withering attacks from Russia. So my engagements have been on the Ukrainian side, not the Russian side. The Ukrainians have been hard fighting patriots to prevent the takeover of their nation, keep their people energized in war. That's all that's all I've seen. But President Trump's agenda is to try to bring a war to an end. That's all he's speaking about there. All right. Secretary Chris Wright, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it.