Bessent blames Ukraine strikes on Russia for global energy market instability

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pointed to Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure as a root cause of rising global energy prices on Wednesday, saying the Russia-Ukraine war and the war with Iran have created an “energy shock.”Bessent, speaking from Asheville, North Carolina, where the Group of 20 finance ministers’ meeting was held this week, told Fox News that “prices are too high” for Americans at the moment. He first pointed to President Joe Biden-era inflation, then shifted to discussing how global conflicts are impacting worldwide energy markets and ultimately putting pressure on American consumers.“We are going through an energy shock right now due to both the war in Ukraine — because you know Ukraine has decided that they want to blow up Russian energy assets and refined products, so that is creating upward price pressure on a global basis — and then the conflict in Iran. And the conflict in Iran will end, and prices will come down,” Bessent told Fox & Friends on Wednesday morning. Since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, energy markets have both dipped and fluctuated as the control of the crucial oil-shipping waterway of the Strait of Hormuz has remained unstable, with simultaneous American blockades of Iranian ports and Iranian strikes on ships in the waterway. The instability in the strait has caused energy markets to be volatile, as the war has become a flash point for Democrats talking about rising prices on the midterm campaign trail.Bessent, however, pointed to a different military conflict as well to discuss the pinch on global energy markets, shifting focus to Ukraine’s tactic of targeting Russian oil infrastructure this summer. Russia is one of the world’s largest oil exporters, but is on track to see its oil companies endure more total losses in 2026 than they did in 2025 due to long-range Ukrainian drone attacks on their energy infrastructure.In spite of the global pressure, Bessent insisted on Wednesday that “overall, prices are coming down” and “core inflation is very under control” on the domestic side. He pointed to economic relief wins, like Chevron investing in Venezuelan oil after President Donald Trump’s oil deal with the country.CHEVRON TO EXPAND OIL FOOTPRINT IN VENEZUELA WITH $7 BILLION INVESTMENT“The bottom 25% of wage earners’ wages went up 4.7%, headline inflation was about 3.5[%],” Bessent told the outlet on Wednesday. “So, we are helping Americans slowly get back on their feet. The Iran conflict will end, but the wage gains will stay, because the wage gains are what Americans did not have in the Biden administration.”Bessent’s comments came on the heels of the latest U.S. military airstrikes against Iran on Tuesday, which came in response to Iran’s targeting of ships in the Strait of Hormuz.