Energy Secretary Chris Wright appears on Face the Nation to push back against the narrative engineering of CBS’s Margaret Brennan.  The video and transcript are below.

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who joins us this morning from Denver. Good morning to you.

SECRETARY OF ENERGY CHRIS WRIGHT: Thanks for having me Margaret.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So 50,000 U.S. troops deployed, six Americans that we know of so far killed in action, civilians stranded. We look at our polling, Mr. Secretary, and we see that this is an unpopular war among the majority of Americans. More than half of them, 56% disapprove. When you speak to energy executives about the scope and duration of American involvement, what do you tell them? How long?

SEC. WRIGHT: I tell them that for 47 years, Iran is warg- waged war against the United States, and they’ve- throughout that 47 years, they’ve tried to undermine the energy development and energy infrastructure of all their neighbors, as they’re doing right now, and it’s time to put it to an end. So yes, we have a, we have a temporary period of elevated energy prices, but it will not be long. In the worst case, this is weeks, this is not months, and it leads to a much better place. It leads to an Iran that’s defanged, that can’t threaten its neighbors, can’t threaten American soldiers and can’t continue to drive up energy prices by making a mess of the Middle East. They can move to commerce, not conflict.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, but you have the moment we are in right now, and as you know, gasoline prices up 14% in the past week. According to AAA, reports the national average is $3.45. We’ve seen oil prices spike. How high do you think oil and gas are going to go?

SEC. WRIGHT: They shouldn’t go much higher than they are here because the world is very well supplied with oil. There’s no energy shortage at all in the Western Hemisphere.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

SEC. WRIGHT: The United States is a net exporter of oil, a large net exporter of natural gas. But refineries in Asia and Europe are seeing an interruption from the normal crude flows. But there is massive energy stores around the world. What you’re seeing is emotional reactions and fear that this is a long term war. This is not a long term war–

MARGARET BRENNAN: –But–

SEC. WRIGHT: –It’s a temporary movement.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Sorry, go ahead, temporary movement.

SEC. WRIGHT: No, I’m saying look, we’ve seen previous administration have done everything they could. They begged, bartered and bribed the Iranian government to stop its nefarious activity, stop its murderous behavior, and it simply hasn’t worked, and now, they’re, they’re expanding missile and drone program that are rapidly growing to protect their desire to build a nuclear weapon. We’re going to cross the threshold where we can’t put them back in the box. Now is the time to end their risk to America and the world.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But as you know, when I ask you about energy prices, this is not a supply problem. You said there’s plenty of supply. The head of the International Energy Agency said, lot of oil, logistics are the problem. It’s dislocation. It’s a serious problem. So what he’s referring to there is being able to actually move it around. I know you said there’s, there’s one vessel that’s gone through the Strait of Hormuz. 20 million barrels per day typically go through it. When do you get back to that level?

SEC. WRIGHT: Oh, I think it will be relatively soon. Of course, I don’t know exactly. All of our military assets right now are focused on ending Iran’s ability to kill their neighbors, threaten American soldiers and threaten ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, but that’s going swimmingly well. Their missile launches are down 90%, the drone launches are down over 80% I think in the relatively near term, you’re going to see their capacity so low that we’ll see more normal ship traffic return to the Strait of Hormuz.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So you don’t think Navy escorts of vessels are necessary?

SEC WRIGHT: They might be. They might be. The U.S. is here to do everything we can to keep world oil markets supplied. Yes, if they have some residual–

MARGARET BRENNAN: –When will you make that decision?

SEC. WRIGHT: We’re, we’re in engagement right now with people that want to get tankers moving out of the Gulf. And so, yes, there could be there- early tankers probably will involve some direct protection by the U.S. military, but most important is to defang their ability to threaten these ships.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So the president had said he was open to tapping the American stockpile of oil, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but I saw you on other networks this morning, kind of throwing cold water on the idea. You referred to it as depleted. Are you saying America doesn’t have adequate stockpiles?

SEC. WRIGHT: No. America still has over 400 million barrels of oil in our strategic petroleum reserve, and, of course, robust production. We’re, we’re, more than happy to use that if it’s needed. But as you said earlier, it’s a logistics issue. Where do they need oil? They need oil at refineries in Europe and in Asia. And that’s why we took a very pragmatic step. There’s over 100 million barrels of floating Russian crude waiting in line to deliver to China. That’s going to be sold, it’s going to be refined, but that could be one or two months from now. So in a pragmatic way, with no change in U.S. policy towards Russia, we told the Indians, bring that into your refineries. You know, if you, if you’re feeling a shortage of crude, prices are being bid up, draw down that Russian crude stocks that are sitting right offshore.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah. So on that point, the U.S. has temporarily suspended some sanctions to make that Russian oil, you say was already going to be sold anyway, make it available. But doesn’t Russia still financially benefit from that? Why isn’t the U.S. seizing those Russian tankers if they are our adversary?

SEC. WRIGHT: Because right now, because right now, we’re worried about Iran and fixing a 47-year problem there, and we’re worried about American consumers. We want to stop the rise in–

MARGARET BRENNAN: –Russia was helping Iran–

SEC. WRIGHT: –gasoline and diesel prices. Well, there’s been rumors of that. We don’t know if that’s true or not. Certainly, they’ve gotten a strong message from us. But this is oil already on the ocean–

MARGARET BRENNAN: –These Iranian drones have Russian parts in them. The Russians have been buying Iranian drones. That is very well documented, and CBS has confirmed and reported that there was sharing of intelligence. Russia providing intel to target Americans. So how is Russia not part of this?

SEC. WRIGHT: Look, Russia, Russia is expert at causing trouble around the world, so I’m not saying they’re not. I’m saying I don’t- if they’re helping Iran, it’s not working very well, but we’re not helping Russia by just accelerating the sale of their oil to stop the rise of energy prices and keep European and Asian refineries in oil. We’re just doing pragmatic things to get through a short period that will bring in an era of even lower energy prices because a major energy producing region of the world, the Middle East, will no longer have a strong, powerful Iran that can threaten their neighbors, that can threaten the United States of America and was not far away from a nuclear bomb. That’s an–

MARGARET BRENNAN: –How much–

SEC. WRIGHT: –unacceptable scenario. That’s the risk to energy prices was not doing anything.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So when the Qataris say you could see $150 barrel in oil, that’s something America could stomach? President Trump wouldn’t say, I’m done with this war because I can’t stand the political pressure and the American people saying I don’t like what I’m paying at the pump?

SEC. WRIGHT: No, the president’s going to continue to stay focused on ending a 47-year conflict, stay focused on growing the global energy supply. This is actually part of that effort. It does involve a temporary impediment to energy production, but on the other side, it will allow much more energy production and much lower energy prices. But this is not a long term conflict. Most presidents have just thought, they’ll kick the can down the road. The risk is simply too great to kick that increasingly dangerous can down the road.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.

SEC. WRIGHT: President Trump’s bold leadership is enough’s enough. We’re going to put it to an end.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about Venezuela. The U.S. deposed Maduro. He’s sitting in a prison. Just this past week, though, we had the interior secretary visiting Venezuela and sitting across from Maduro’s Chief thug, Diosdado Cabello. This is someone who has a $25 million bounty on his head. He ran the prisons, he ran the militias. He was treated as a counterpart to an American official. Is this the same playbook the Trump administration is going to run in Iran, that you will deal with the same regime you’ve been telling me is terrible to deal with for 47 years?

SEC. WRIGHT: We don’t know what the regime will be in place at the, at the end of this conflict, but we do know that regime will not have a massive weapons arsenal, that that regime will no longer be a massive threat to Americans and to the Middle East and to global oil supplies. President Trump is using bold leadership. We can’t change the world at a blink of an eye, but we can steer it in massively positive directions, and yes, Venezuela is a great example of that. Crime in the nearby Trinidad and Tobago has plummeted already from our actions in Venezuela, and President Trump’s insistence that he’s going to work with that our neighbors to reduce drug trafficking in the Western Hemisphere. Leadership takes- involves risks, but if you want to drive improvement, you’ve got to be confident, you’ve got to have the right agenda, and you’ve got to have the courage to do it. This president does.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Energy Secretary Wright, thank you for your time this morning. Face the Nation will be back in a minute. Stay with us.

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