Hassett: Strait of Hormuz oil to flow in 1-2 months
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- Kevin Hassett, National Economic Council Director, told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that oil shipments will pass through the Strait of Hormuz in "a month or two" and noted "a lot more traffic" compared to two weeks ago.
- Hassett said a Saudi pipeline is now piping out more oil without routing it through the Gulf, and that Pakistan and India refineries — currently mostly shut down — will restart and push refined product prices down globally.
- U.S. gas prices have only slightly eased to a national average of $4.34, down from over $4.50 last week but still well above last year's $3.15, with Iran having closed the strait since the conflict began in late February.
- Energy Secretary Chris Wright offered a more cautious timeline earlier this month, predicting the strait will reopen "sometime this summer at the latest."
- Hassett told Fox Business last week that prices will "plummet like nothing you've ever seen before" once the strait reopens, citing excess capacity in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
- Strait reopening is a key component of a tentative U.S.-Iran deal to extend the fragile ceasefire by another 60 days; Trump held a Situation Room meeting Friday for a "final determination" but provided no update afterward.
- Hassett downplayed economic anxiety, telling Americans they will "have a lot more money" when they look at their wallets despite the elevated energy costs.
Why it matters: Hassett's one-to-two-month timeline is only a few weeks shorter than Wright's "sometime this summer" forecast, and both rest on a U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal that Trump has not finalized despite a Friday Situation Room meeting. The 38% jump in national gas prices from $3.15 to $4.34 per gallon — directly tied to Iran's closure of the strait since late February — means American consumers absorb the cost of the diplomatic delay.
