Bessent says 'international coalition' could escort tankers through Strait of Hormuz [View all]

Source: The Hill

03/12/26 5:34 PM ET


Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that an “international coalition” could escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. “Are you starting to think, if this does keep persisting as it is, that the Navy has to go into the Strait of Hormuz to — to help ships get through, which would have a big effect on —” Sky News’s Wilfred Frost asked Scott Bessent in an interview.

“Look, that was always in our planning, that there’s the chance that U.S. Navy or perhaps an international coalition will be escorting oil tankers through,” Bessent replied. “There are, in fact, tankers coming through now, Iranian tankers, I believe some Chinese-flagged tankers have come through, so, we know that they have not mined the straits.”

Shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has been held up for close to two weeks amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran. President Trump said Wednesday that the strait was in “great shape,” but Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, on Thursday asserted that the waterway would remain closed.

Three ships in the Strait of Hormuz were hit by unknown projectiles on Wednesday, per the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations. The agency also said that one of the strikes resulted in a fire on board one of the ships. On Thursday, U.K. Secretary of Defense John Healey said that his government has “seen the reports overnight of more civilian commercial ships that have been attacked, unarmed, doing their normal business.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/business/5781644-strait-hormuz-international-escorts-bessent/

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That ain't happening either. You don't go run out there and arrogantly start a war, and then come back begging for someone to "help" after you fucked up.