Bessent blames Ukraine, Iran conflicts for energy shock

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent partly blamed Ukraine for the global "energy shock," arguing that Kyiv’s attacks on Russian energy infrastructure are adding to price pressure driven by the U.S.-Iran war.

Bessent Links Ukraine Strikes To Energy Shock "We are going through an energy shock right now due to both the war in Ukraine, because Ukraine has decided that they want to blow up Russian energy assets and refined properties, so that is creating upward price pressure on a global basis, and the conflict in Iran," Bessent told Fox & Friends on Wednesday.

Ukraine has intensified drone strikes on Russian refineries.

88 million barrels per day, a 17-year low, while attacks have contributed to gasoline shortages and forced Russia to restrict fuel exports.

Hormuz Disruption Keeps Global Oil Prices High The Iran conflict, however, poses a more immediate threat to global oil supplies.

Brent crude traded near $95 a barrel Thursday after renewed U.S.-Iran strikes, while only four vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz compared with a 10-day average of 13.

Before the conflict, the waterway handled roughly one-fifth of global oil shipments.

Read Also: Who's Actually Winning From the Iran War? These Oil Producers Are Turning Strait of Hormuz Chaos Into Bigger Realized Prices The squeeze has reached U.S. consumers.

Reuters notes that gasoline inventories fell 1.2 million barrels last week and average pump prices stayed above $4 a gallon throughout August, a record for the month.

Bessent acknowledged prices are "too high" but said "overall, prices are coming down, core inflation is very under control." July CPI rose 3.4% year over year, while core inflation was 2.5%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Bessent Faces Pushback As Iran Pressure Grows Bessent’s remarks drew pushback from Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko, who argued the Iran war has affected energy markets "significantly" more than Kyiv’s strikes on Russia’s war-making capacity.

US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent: "We are going through an energy shock right now due to both the war in Ukraine, because Ukraine has decided that they want to blow up Russian energy assets and refine products, so that is creating upward price pressure on a global… pic.twitter.com/P1vkcERP0u — Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) September 2, 2026 The comments come as Bessent escalates Washington’s economic campaign against Tehran.

He recently said Iran’s economy could collapse " within weeks or months " and argued the Strait of Hormuz could become a "worthless piece of water" within two years as new pipelines bypass it. "We have to de-risk everywhere in the world," Bessent said, accusing Tehran of using Hormuz as a "choke point" for other countries even if it is not one for the United States.

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