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Secretary Wright Discusses Venezuela Oil Control and Iran Protests on Face the Nation, Jan. 11, 2026

January 11, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:08:45

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright joined CBS’s Face the Nation on January 11, 2026, according to the Department of Energy posting of the interview. On the protests then underway in Iran, Wright said, as he stated it, that President Trump had been outspoken in wanting freedom, rule of law, and capitalism to return to Iran, had taken a strong stance against the mullahs in disabling their nuclear program, and that Iranians were rising up because they felt a strong America had their back; he declined, as the interview records, to discuss military specifics or any change in vessel interdictions.

On Venezuela, Wright said, as he stated it, that Venezuela had purchased $20 billion of Russian weapons, hosted Cuban mercenaries and Hezbollah’s Western Hemisphere headquarters, and supplied oil to Cuba. He said, as he stated the arrangement, that the United States was controlling the sale of Venezuelan crude through a quarantine on shipments, with all crude going through American marketers, the funds collected and brought back to Venezuela to better the lives of Venezuelans, and that American companies would likely expand their presence and production over time. Asked how long the U.S. government role would continue, Wright said, as he stated it, that the goal was a transition to a representative government and full sovereignty, on a timeline of not weeks but months — could be a year or two, could be more, as he stated it.

Why it matters

Wright’s interview is the administration’s clearest early public description of the Venezuela oil arrangement — U.S.-controlled sales, collected funds, and an open-ended transition timeline — from the secretary administering it.

Scoreboard watch

Wright’s stated transition timeline for Venezuela — not weeks but months, possibly a year or two or more, as stated on January 11, 2026 — is a dated, checkable claim flagged for the scoreboard editor. No verdict is published from this page.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Joins Face the Nation on CBS - January 11, 2026”, 2026-01-11 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-01-11). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.