US Treasury chief claims Strait of Hormuz will be ‘worthless piece of water’ in 2 years

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday said that the Strait of Hormuz would become obsolete within two years as alternative oil routes would bypass the strategic waterway, Anadolu reports.

“We have to de-risk everywhere in the world. We can see the Iranians are trying to use the Strait of Hormuz as a choke point,” Bessent said during an interview in Asheville, North Carolina.

“It’s not a choke point for the US, but it is a choke point for many, many other countries,” he said on the sidelines of meetings with G20 countries’ ministers.

Bessent claimed the strategic waterway “will be bypassed in two years.”

“In two years, the Strait of Hormuz will be like a worthless piece of water,” he said.

“The oil will be going on pipelines across land,” he added.

Bessent said that Tehran currently does not have “access to hard currency, inflation is through the roof, they’re having to print money at the central bank to try to pay government employees, to pay troops.”

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On further sanctions against Iran, Bessent said: “We are probably going to announce a bank sanction this week, and we will announce one the week after.”

He said that Washington is in contact with its allies and said: “We have seen great support around the world, and we have zero tolerance. We are going to economically asphyxiate this regime.”

“We are going to go after the regime’s ill-gotten assets that they have stolen from the Iranian people,” he said, pledging to transfer the assets to the Iranian people, victims of terror, or families of US soldiers.

“But we will stop this regime’s ability to have a nuclear weapon, to have their current highly enriched uranium, to project terrorist power through their proxy networks, and to terrorize the Gulf,” he said, adding that “we’re telling people either you are with us or against us.”

Tensions between Tehran and Washington have remained high since the war began with strikes on Iran in late February.

A framework deal was signed in June through Pakistani and Qatari mediation.

The US began a two-week bombing campaign in July and reimposed a naval blockade after differences over navigation in the strait.

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