US Navy could escort vessels in Strait of Hormuz with international coalition, Bessent says
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An LPG gas tanker at anchor on March 11 as traffic is down in the Strait of Hormuz.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- US Navy may escort vessels through Hormuz with a coalition when militarily feasible, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
- This plan requires the US to control the skies and degrade Iran's missile rebuilding capabilities.
- Iran threatens to block Gulf oil shipments unless US and Israeli attacks cease, raising global economic concerns.
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LONDON - The US Navy, perhaps with an international coalition, will escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz when it is militarily possible, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Sky News in an interview on March 12.
“My belief, that as soon as it is militarily possible, the US Navy, perhaps with an international coalition, will be escorting vessels through,” Mr Bessent said.
The plan to escort ships would go ahead as soon as the US has “complete control of the skies and... (Iran’s) rebuilding capabilities for the missiles completely degraded,” he said.
US.and Israeli strikes on Iran and the subsequent response by Tehran have widened regional tensions and paralysed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting vital Middle East oil and gas flows and sending energy prices higher.
Raising the stakes for the global economy, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it will block oil shipments from the Gulf unless the US and Israeli attacks cease.
“There are, in fact, tankers coming through now, Iranian tankers, I believe some Chinese flag tankers have come through. So we know that they have not mined the straits,” Mr Bessent said. REUTERS
