Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that the war with Iran will come to an end in the next few weeks, and possibly sooner, amid concerns about high gas prices.
“I think that this conflict will certainly come to an end in the next few weeks,” Wright told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “Could be sooner than that, but the conflict will come to the end in the next few weeks.”
Wright’s comments come as Americans are seeing increasingly high gas prices as a result of the war. One major piece of leverage Iran maintains is its control over the Strait of Hormuz, a critical passageway connecting the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman through which around 20% of the world’s oil supply passes through. Iran has effectively closed the strait, sending crude oil prices skyrocketing and leading to higher gas prices in the U.S.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright attends a working lunch at the “Shield of the Americas” Summit at Trump National Doral in Miami, Florida, on March 7, 2026.
Rebecca Blackwell, Pool via AFP via Getty Images
According to GasBuddy as of Sunday morning, the price of gas has risen 76 cents per gallon on average since the start of the war, a sharp increase in a short amount of time. Wright said Americans should expect gas prices to come down in the next few weeks, but that there is no guarantee.
“There’s no guarantees in wars at all,” Wright said. “This is short-term pain to get through to a much better place.”
Still, Wright pointed out that gas prices are lower than the peak under the Biden administration, and argued that this increase in gas prices will lead to a meaningful difference in policy.
“We had $5 gasoline in the middle of the Biden administration,” Wright said. “We hope we don’t get there this time, but at least this increase in gasoline prices is for something that’s going to change the geopolitical situation in the world forever.”
In order to ease gas prices, Wright had previously told CNBC that it was “quite likely” the U.S. Navy could escort oil tankers through the strait by the end of the month, but that it was not ready to do so. President Donald Trump then posted to Truth Social Saturday saying other countries would send war ships to help open the Strait of Hormuz.
When asked by Raddatz which countries would be sending war ships, Wright said that many countries in Asia rely on oil from the strait and thus have an interest to help open it.
“China top on that list. Japan, Korea, all the Asian nations is where the energy … that comes out of the Straits of Hormuz flows to,” Wright said. “So, of course, it’s quite logical to have a broad coalition of the nations of the world work to reopen the straits.”
Did the Trump administration plan for the Strait’s closure?
One accusation Democrats have made is that the Trump administration did not adequately plan for the Strait of Hormuz’s closure and the ensuing rise in gas prices. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., asked on the Senate floor Thursday, “How did Donald Trump not see this coming?”
Wright rebuked Schumer’s comments Sunday — calling him “disingenuous” — and said that the Trump administration was well aware that the global oil trade would be interrupted because of the war.
“We were very aware, very aware that we would have short-term disruption,” Wright said. “We would cause a little bit of increased prices on Americans.”
Wright also described the Trump administration’s plans for the Strait as “meticulous.”
Homeland on high alert
Another major concern as this war has progressed is possible threats to the U.S. homeland as a result of the war. An attack on a synagogue in Michigan, the attempted attack on New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s residence and the shootings at Old Dominion University and at a bar in Austin, Texas are some of the major attacks just since the war began. It is unclear, however, whether those attacks were motivated by the war with Iran.
Democratic Rep. Adam Smith, ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, said Sunday that the attacks are not a new, but that the U.S. should be prepared for any possible terrorist plots on the homeland.
“So, this isn’t a new phenomenon,” Smith said. “But without question, this has been ramped up because of the war in the Middle East that has brought in … this war and this conflict is without question spreading right now.”
Like most Democrats, Smith has been highly critical of the decision to attack Iran. He expressed his doubts Sunday about the ability to make a meaningful change to the regime so that it is more friendly to the U.S.
“We can’t just fly in, snatch the president and make things change. It is a country of 90 million people, that has a dug-in, well-armed regime that has, you know, proxies in a bunch of different places,” Smith said. “The cost of this war outweighs the benefits.”
Smith and others in his party have drawn criticism in recent weeks for blocking funding for the Department of Homeland Security amidst a heightened threat environment. Democrats say they will not fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement — a division of DHS — until major reforms are made to the agency. At present, most of DHS is being denied funding while ICE continues to be funded through the One Big Beautiful Bill passed last summer.
But Smith said Sunday that Democrats are willing to fund the rest of DHS while continuing to block funding for ICE.
“Democrats have said, we will fund everything but ICE,” Smith said. “So, whether you’re talking TSA, FEMA, the Coast Guard, we’re fully prepared to fund all of that. We want reform to ICE.”
