Energy Secretary Chris Wright offered Americans a blunt account of the Trump administration’s campaign against Iran.

Washington remains willing to negotiate, but it is also using military force and economic isolation to make Tehran pay dearly for its nuclear ambitions and attacks on global shipping.

After months of conflict, the immediate mission includes choking off Iranian oil and gas exports while protecting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Wright summarized the strategy without diplomatic fog, saying, “We are strangling their economy” to force a change in policy or leadership.

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Appearing Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Wright said traffic through the vital passage remains substantial despite Iranian aggression.

More than 9 million barrels are moving through the strait each day, while pipelines around the waterway have helped restore total flows to roughly two thirds of earlier levels.

That does not mean Iran has suddenly discovered good manners.

Tehran has attacked merchant vessels and fired ballistic missiles at American warships, yet Wright insisted, “So Iranians are still causing trouble, but the United States Navy is winning that battle.”

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The question is whether American naval forces must remain there indefinitely to keep tankers moving and prevent Iran from holding international commerce hostage.

Wright argued that securing the passage “shouldn’t be just the United States’s responsibility,” a fair point for allies that enjoy secure energy supplies while Washington carries the burden.

Wright expects mounting pressure to produce either a change inside the Iranian regime or a serious shift in its behavior.

As he explained, “Oh, I think we’ll see a change in the Iranian regime, or certainly a change in their policy if they want to become a trading nation again and engage with the world.”

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United States Central Command added teeth to that warning Saturday by striking three Iranian oil tankers after missiles targeted American warships.

Two tankers were disabled and another was destroyed, according to the military, which linked the vessels to a shadow network financing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Trump administration is pairing those operations with efforts to degrade Iran’s nuclear capabilities and reduce its energy income.

President Donald Trump still prefers a negotiated settlement, but his team is plainly refusing to build its entire strategy around the hope that Tehran will suddenly become reasonable.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is handling the financial side of the squeeze.

He described the combination of blockade measures and Treasury sanctions as one of the most powerful economic isolation campaigns ever attempted, with Iran’s remaining commercial lifelines squarely in Washington’s sights.

Bessent said the administration’s sequencing has prevented China’s continued purchases of Iranian crude from defeating the strategy.

Once the remaining exportable supply is exhausted and Iran cannot move additional oil from its ports, Beijing will have little product left to purchase, regardless of its appetite.

The campaign, called Operation Economic Outcast, aims to sever Iran from banks, oil revenue, financial intermediaries, and sanctions evasion networks.

Bessent put the objective in unmistakable language, declaring, “We are going to asphyxiate this regime.”

Treasury launched the initiative with plans to identify the institutions and facilitators that help Iran smuggle oil, move money, procure weapons, and finance terrorist proxies.

The department has warned that organizations assisting Tehran could lose access to the American financial system and face broader secondary sanctions.

That warning gained force Friday when Treasury sanctioned a Turkish financial institution and its subsidiaries for allegedly helping the Revolutionary Guard transfer money internationally.

Iran relies heavily on shadow banking networks across several jurisdictions, often exploiting access to dollar based correspondent banking relationships to keep illicit funds moving.

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The administration is also working with European governments, the United Kingdom, Gulf partners, and other allies to close remaining escape routes.

For years, Tehran counted on complicated financial arrangements and timid enforcement to outlast sanctions, but Bessent is promising faster penalties and fewer places for willing accomplices to hide.

Iran has not changed course yet, and its threats against shipping continue as maritime traffic remains below normal levels.

Wright and Bessent are making clear that Washington’s answer is sustained military pressure, relentless financial isolation, and negotiations only when Tehran concludes that defiance costs more than surrendering its nuclear ambitions.

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