← Videos · Energy & Permitting

Wright on ABC's This Week: Only Military Targets Struck on Kharg Island, and 100 Million Barrels Pre-Positioned by Allies

March 15, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:08:41

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

What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright joined ABC’s This Week on March 15, 2026, according to the Department of Energy’s recording. Asked about President Trump’s threat against the oil infrastructure on Kharg Island and Iran’s vow to target American-linked energy infrastructure in reply, Wright said the United States did not target Kharg Island’s energy infrastructure, only the military infrastructure on the island, and that since the conflict began Iran has been attacking energy infrastructure all around the Gulf, including in nations with no hostilities toward Iran.

Wright said he was confident oil would not reach the $200 a barrel Iran’s armed forces warned of, arguing that Iran’s threats show why the operation was essential: for 47 years Iran has threatened the Strait of Hormuz, attacked its neighbors and killed U.S. soldiers, and a nuclear-armed Iran would be far harder to defang, as he made the case. He offered no guarantee that prices would fall within weeks, but said he could guarantee the situation would be dramatically worse without the operation to defang the regime, describing the present period as short-term pain on the way to a better place.

Pressed with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer’s charge that the administration failed to plan for Iran closing the strait, Wright called the claim disingenuous and said meticulous planning went into Hormuz scenarios, praising Joint Chiefs Chairman General Caine as a meticulous planner. He said the administration knew there would be a temporary interruption of flows, and that allies — calling out Saudi Arabia as one, but not the only one — positioned over 100 million barrels of oil in storage outside the Middle East before the conflict began, anticipating rising tensions. He said broader energy-security dialogue with partners had run since the administration arrived, including his engagement with the International Energy Agency, but that specific military-operation dialogue was not held in advance because surprise was essential, and he defended asking the Asian nations most dependent on Hormuz flows to join a coalition to reopen the strait.

Why it matters

The disclosure that allies quietly stockpiled over 100 million barrels outside the region before the first strike is the strongest evidence offered that the Hormuz disruption was war-gamed in advance, answering the central criticism of the operation’s planning.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Joins ABC’s This Week - March 15, 2026”, 2026-03-15 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-03-15). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.