A nuclear agreement with Iran may not materialize, and the US may instead have to rely on destroying Tehran's capabilities, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday.
"There may not be a nuclear agreement," Wright told ABC News. "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."
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that Iran's leadership has fundamentally changed since the US-Israel strikes began in late February, even though Iran's system remains intact under a new supreme leader.
When asked whether continued bombing would be the strategy to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, Wright responded affirmatively. "You have to destroy their capabilities to do it," he said. "They built a massive missile infrastructure to manufacture missiles, which you see them firing today, but they don't have the capability to build more missiles."
The secretary also addressed oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global energy shipments. He said the seven-day average for oil passing through the strait currently stands at more than 9 million barrels per day, which he described as the highest seven-day average on record. Wright provided a similar account in early August.
With pipelines through Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the total flow out of the region is between 13 million and 14 million barrels per day, Wright added.
Iran and the US signed a memorandum of understanding in June, mediated by Pakistan and Qatar, outlining steps toward ending hostilities, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and addressing economic restrictions. The two sides have since accused each other of failing to implement commitments under the memorandum.
The Strait of Hormuz remains a flashpoint where the US and Iran are making directly opposing claims about whether the waterway is open, who controls it and how safe it is for commercial shipping. US officials say the internationally recognized shipping lanes have been cleared of Iranian mines and that dozens of vessels are transiting daily. Tehran insists the strait remains under Iranian control and is not open or safe from mines.
