US energy chief signals Iran war could continue for several more weeks

Energy Secretary Chris Wright signalled the war with Iran may last several more weeks, with oil and petrol prices elevated as the US and Israel seek to destroy Iranian military capabilities.In television interviews on Sunday, Wright defended the Trump administration’s argument that Americans are facing short-term pain at the pump in a midterm election year for the larger goal of eliminating Iran as a threat to the Middle East.“I think that this conflict will certainly come to the end in the next few weeks, could be sooner than that, and we’ll see a rebound in supplies and a pushing down of prices after that,” Wright said on ABC’s This Week.He said President Trump needed to act now “to stop the killing of American soldiers, to stop the destabilisation of the region, and to end Iran’s ability to threaten energy markets”.And, Wright said, economic conditions would grow dramatically worse without the ongoing military operation “to defang the Iranian regime” and ensure it can no longer threaten the world with nuclear weapons.Oil closed at more than US$103 per barrel on Friday as Iran retains a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, normally a conduit for a fifth of the world’s oil and a similar portion of liquefied natural gas.President Donald Trump on Saturday called on other countries to send warships to keep the strait open, saying he hopes China, France, Japan, South Korea and the UK will take part.