{"id":44602,"date":"2026-08-14T15:28:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T10:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=44602"},"modified":"2026-08-14T15:28:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T10:28:27","slug":"low-oil-prices-now-goal-number-one-in-iran-war-vance-says-as-u-s-threatens-new-economic-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=44602","title":{"rendered":"Low oil prices now \u2018goal number one\u2019 in Iran war, Vance says, as U.S. threatens new economic pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-b4c721\" class=\"body-graf\">Trump and his team have offered various reasons for conflict with Iran, initially saying they wanted to support mass anti-government protests, before prioritizing a desire to defang Iran\u2019s nuclear program and even topple the regime.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-d5326f\" class=\"body-graf\">Oil and gas was flowing relatively freely worldwide before the U.S.-Israeli attack, sparking a conflict that has increasingly centered on the tussle for control of the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 a waterway through which some 20% of the world\u2019s energy supplies traveled prior to the war.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-8c3099\" class=\"body-graf\">Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. had \u201ctotal control\u201d over the strait and described the American blockade of Iranian ports as a \u201cwall of steel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-0f7089\" class=\"body-graf\">But traffic through the key trade route remains a trickle of the 130-140 vessels that typically traversed during peacetime. Though the U.S. is blockading Iranian ports, Iran continues to fire on ships attempting to transit.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-cb76ed\" class=\"body-graf\">A tanker suffered minor damage when it was hit by an aerial drone while trying to exit the strait Thursday, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__FvnTh styles_medium__MEKii\" id=\"anchor-7de3b8\"><picture class=\"styles_image__i32F7\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"fit\" data-original-height=\"1667\" data-original-width=\"2500\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260803-strait-of-hormuz-2-rs-bff30c.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260803-strait-of-hormuz-2-rs-bff30c.jpg 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260803-strait-of-hormuz-2-rs-bff30c.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260803-strait-of-hormuz-2-rs-bff30c.jpg 1x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260803-strait-of-hormuz-2-rs-bff30c.jpg\" alt=\"Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam\" height=\"1667\" width=\"2500\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__TCewG\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, earlier this month.<\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Reuters<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"anchor-d9e042\" class=\"body-graf\">Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari said Thursday that \u201cno vessel can safely transit the Strait of Hormuz without Iran\u2019s authorization and supervision,\u201d according to the state-controlled IRIB news agency. Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier in the day accused the U.S. of \u201cintelligence failures\u201d and making a \u201cmiscalculation\u201d over Hormuz.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-d0f77c\" class=\"body-graf\">The U.S. has nonetheless remained bullish. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-595260\" class=\"body-graf\">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Thursday that the U.S. could keep up its naval blockade on Iran \u201cindefinitely\u201d because \u201cwe\u2019ll rotate ships in and out, as we have, and we\u2019ll continue to\u201d do.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-e1d43b\" class=\"body-graf\">That comment followed news that the USS George Washington is now sailing to the Middle East and is expected to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, which has been at sea for some 250 days and not had a port call for more than 200. Families of some of the 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard the Lincoln describe low morale and deteriorating conditions.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__FvnTh styles_medium__MEKii\" id=\"anchor-5ae4f3\"><picture class=\"styles_image__i32F7\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"fit\" data-original-height=\"1667\" data-original-width=\"2500\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260813-USS-Abraham-Lincoln-ew-641p-47ef0c.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260813-USS-Abraham-Lincoln-ew-641p-47ef0c.jpg 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260813-USS-Abraham-Lincoln-ew-641p-47ef0c.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260813-USS-Abraham-Lincoln-ew-641p-47ef0c.jpg 1x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260813-USS-Abraham-Lincoln-ew-641p-47ef0c.jpg\" alt=\"Abraham Lincoln Sails In The Arabian Sea\" height=\"1667\" width=\"2500\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__TCewG\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">USS Abraham Lincoln sails in the Arabian Sea in May.<\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">U.S. Navy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"anchor-64b216\" class=\"body-graf\">The Trump administration seems to be doubling down on the new strategy of economic pressure.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-380ebd\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cWatch this space for more announcements coming next week,\u201d Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant told Newsmax on Thursday. \u201cWe are going to apply measures like have never been seen in the history of economic isolation on a country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-a72c49\" class=\"body-graf\">He did not give details about what these measures might be. Trump has often lobbed verbal threats toward Tehran only to later back down, citing an imminent diplomatic breakthrough that has so far failed to materialize.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-c00331\" class=\"body-graf\">Meanwhile, the Hormuz impasse has shocked the world economy, not just limiting supplies of oil and gas but also vital products such as fertilizer.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-e6c7e5\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">The international oil benchmark of Brent Crude sits just above $87 dollars a barrel, 45% higher than it was in January. The <a href=\"https:\/\/gasprices.aaa.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">average price for a gallon of gas<\/a> in the U.S. is now higher than $4; before the conflict it was lower than $3.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump and his team have offered various reasons for conflict with Iran, initially saying they wanted to support mass anti-government protests, before prioritizing a desire to defang Iran\u2019s nuclear program and even topple the regime. Oil and gas was flowing relatively freely worldwide before the U.S.-Israeli attack, sparking a conflict that has increasingly centered on&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260814-iran-rs-882183.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}