Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has a pretty optimistic vision for what happens after the Iran conflict wraps up: oil prices crashing to levels we haven't seen in years.
In an interview on Fox News' "My View with Lara Trump" on Sunday, Bessent argued that once the fighting ends, a wave of supply will hit the market and send prices tumbling. He described the U.S. economy as "very strong" and in the middle of a "productivity burst."
"On the other side of this, we actually could see oil prices at $40 or $50 because there's so much supply coming on. It's just constricted right now," Bessent said.
His reasoning? The Strait of Hormuz, that narrow waterway that's long been a choke point for global oil shipments, will become less critical as Gulf nations build alternative pipelines. That would reduce Iran's ability to disrupt the flow of crude. Bessent previously noted that while the strait is crucial for many countries, the U.S. isn't as dependent on it.
He framed the current "energy supply shock" as temporary and called the U.S. an "energy superpower." He pointed to solid job and wage growth as evidence of the economy's resilience, and predicted real wages will keep climbing once the war ends.
"I think we are going to get to the other side of this Iran conflict with a safer world, with an Iran that cannot have a nuclear weapon, and that we are in the lift-off phase," he said.
