WASHINGTON — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Friday that the Strait of Hormuz, where shipping traffic has essentially been stopped since the start of the war on Iran, is actually “open” and that military leaders “don’t need to worry about it.”
“The only thing prohibiting transit in the straits right now is Iran shooting at shipping. It is open for transit should Iran not do that,” the former Fox News weekend host told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.
Hegseth, in a particularly angry appearance, also attacked press accounts suggesting that Iran’s attacks on shipping were not anticipated by President Donald Trump and his top aides when he unilaterally took the United States into war against that country two weeks ago.
“As the world is seeing, they are exercising sheer desperation in the Straits of Hormuz, something we’re dealing with. We have been dealing with it and don’t need to worry about it,” he said, and then attacked CNN by name. “The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”
A CNN spokesperson said the network stands by its reporting.
The narrow passage between the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf normally sees about 20% of the world’s crude oil supply pass through. That flow has dropped to a trickle, with the exception of Iran’s own oil.