Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued Sunday that President Trump may need to “escalate to de-escalate” the war in Iran — while asserting the higher prices Americans are facing because of the conflict are worth it to ensure Iran never builds a nuclear weapon.
Bessent’s comments on NBC’s “Meet the Press” come one day after Trump threatened to “obliterate” Iranian energy infrastructure if the regime did not meet a 48 hour deadline to “fully open” the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s fiery ultimatum would expire just after 7:30 p.m. on Monday.
“Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate,” the treasury secretary told “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker, when asked about the president’s threat – which came hours after he claimed he was considering “winding down” the war in Iran.
Bessent argued that winding down the war while ramping up strikes “are not mutually exclusive.”
“This is the only language the Iranians understand,” he added.
The Trump administration official signaled that the current focus of Operation Epic Fury – launched by Trump just over three weeks ago – is on taking out the Iranian military units that could prevent ships from sailing safely through the Strait of Hormuz.
“We have demolished the Iranian capabilities. Their air force is completely destroyed, navy destroyed, and every day we are taking out their missiles, their missile systems and the factories that build those missiles,” Bessent explained.
“And now, [Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine and War Secretary Pete Hegseth] are leading a campaign to destroy all the fortifications along the Strait of Hormuz.”
The Strait of Hormuz – responsible for a fifth of the world’s oil exports – has been effectively closed by Tehran since Trump launched the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran on Feb. 28.
The Iranian regime has repeatedly attacked oil tankers attempting to use the critical waterway, sending oil and gas prices skyrocketing.
Bessent argued Americans should view the tradeoff of high prices for global security as a worthwhile policy.
“Fifty days of temporary elevated prices – prices will come off on the other side – for 50 years of not having an Iranian regime with a nuclear weapon, the American people, they are beginning to understand, thanks to President Trump, that there is no prosperity without security,” he said.
Bessent noted that he’s not sure if prices will remain elevated for more than or less than 50 days.
The treasury secretary also defended temporarily lifting sanctions on Iranian oil “stranded at sea,” claiming that Iran was already set to make money off the crude and that the new policy would help US allies.
“If it goes to Indonesia, if it goes to Japan or Korea – we have a much better line of sight and are able to block accounts that the oil goes into,” Bessent said. “When it goes into China, it completely gets recycled.”
“In essence, we are jiu-jitsuing the Iranians. We are using their own oil against them.”
