Wright: Iran Nuclear Deal May Not Happen
Wright: Iran Nuclear Deal May Not Happen
The News
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that the United States may never reach a nuclear agreement with Iran, and that any deal could have to wait for a different government in Tehran.
"There may not be a nuclear agreement. It may be simply destroying their capabilities to do it. An agreement may await a next administration in Iran. We simply don't know that," Wright told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
The comment lands six months into a conflict that President Donald Trump launched in part to stop Iran's nuclear program — and after a weekend in which the U.S. struck three Iranian oil tankers.
What Wright Says the Campaign Has Done
Pressed on how the U.S. keeps Iran from a bomb without a deal, Wright said the bombing campaign is doing the work: "We are degrading their capacity to develop nuclear weapons and ultimately to deliver them, if they develop them." He called it "a 47-year-long effort" and said the U.S. "will get the job done" with regional allies.
Wright also said a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports would "either change their regime or it'll change their regime's policies."
Timeline
Trump tells reporters a deal he considers sufficient may not happen: "They want to make a deal, but they're not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel is necessary." He adds that after the U.S. strikes with B-2 bombers, Iran building a weapon "is going to be a long time."
Trump declares on social media that he "could not care less" if Iran strikes a deal with the U.S. The same day, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the administration's goal is to "economically asphyxiate" Iran to force it to the table.
Trump calls the war "small potatoes" and says: "We have had tremendous success. We stopped Iran from having a nuclear weapon."
The U.S. strikes three Iranian oil tankers after Iran targets two U.S. Navy warships. Tehran then claims retaliatory strikes on three U.S.-affiliated vessels and three oil tankers.
Wright says on "This Week" that there may not be a nuclear agreement at all.
Reactions
Wright's framing was that Iran is out of options, not that Washington has failed. "Look, it's a challenge. Iran is doing everything they can to cling on to something," he said. "They know their nuclear program is coming to an end, their navy's come to an end, their air force has come to an end. They're clinging on to power as the United States continues to escalate the volume of oil that transits through the Strait of Hormuz."
He argued the stakes justify the campaign: "If Iran has nuclear weapons, the Middle East, the world is a wildly different place than it is today."
Trump has insisted the threat is already neutralized, saying Friday the U.S. "stopped Iran from having a nuclear weapon." The Washington Examiner reported that peace talks remain stalled and that the Iranian regime does not appear interested in a deal while the war continues.
What's Next
No negotiations are on the calendar. Wright's answer points to an open-ended military and economic campaign — strikes on Iran's capabilities plus a blockade of Iranian ports — rather than a diplomatic track.
On prices, Wright pointed to futures markets: bulk gasoline for delivery two months out, in November, is trading about 35 cents cheaper than today. "So the marketplace thinks gasoline prices are going to move meaningfully lower," he said, adding that demand typically falls after Labor Day as summer driving season ends.
More
Wright said the seven-day average of oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz is "a little over nine million barrels a day, which is the highest the seven-day average has ever been" during the war. Counting bypass pipelines through Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, he said, flows out of the region run "more like 13, 14 million barrels a day." Raddatz noted Wright had said a single-day wartime record of 17 million barrels was set Monday, against a pre-war average of 20 million.
The fighting is showing up at the pump. AAA put the national average at $4.15 a gallon on Sunday, according to the Washington Examiner — the highest Labor Day price since 2012, when the record was $3.82. A year ago the national average was $3.19.
Asked about Venezuela, Wright said the U.S. has "a lot of leverage" because it controls sales of Venezuelan oil abroad, and that the country is "forced to work in partnership with us."
Poll
Should the U.S. keep pursuing a nuclear deal with Iran?
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