Treasury secretary insists Trump is “jiu-jitsuing the Iranians”

“Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate.”

That’s how Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended Donald Trump’s threats against Iranian leaders and infrastructure on Sunday, insisting on NBC’s Meet the Press that such bluster is “the only language the Iranians understand.”

On Saturday night, the president posted on Truth Social that if Iran doesn’t “FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT” the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, the US military would “hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!”

Around 20 percent of the world’s oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran has effectively blocked transit since the US and Israeli strikes beginning on February 28. 

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, was defiant on Sunday, warning that that attacks on Iran’s infrastructure would mean “energy and oil facilities across the region will be considered legitimate targets and will be irreversibly destroyed.”

The US has steered away from hitting Iran’s oil infrastructure in the past month, and Trump reportedly told Israel that they should not repeat strikes on major energy plants after Iran responded to an Israeli attack on a key gas field last Thursday by hitting Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, which processes about a fifth of the world’s liquid natural gas. 

Last week, Bessent announced that the administration was lifting sanctions on approximately 140 million barrels of Iranian crude currently strandedon tankers, in an attempt to relieve skyrocketing oil prices. On March 12, Bessent said the administration was temporarily lifting sanctions on Russian oil also stranded at sea that were imposed because of its war on Ukraine.

Bessent doubled down on defending Trump’s actions on Sunday, telling Meet the Press host Kristen Welker repeatedly that she has “terrible framing” when she questioned the administration’s plans in Iran. “We are jiu-jitsuing the Iranians,” he insisted. “We are using their own oil against them.”

In one instance, Welker asked Bessent whether Trump would ever raise taxes to fund the war—a pertinent question as the Pentagon is reportedly seeking $200 billion from Congress to pay for the conflict.  

“It’s a ridiculous question,” Bessent said. After an awkward pause, he said, “Why would we do that? We have plenty. We have a trillion dollars in this year’s budget for the military.” 

Speaking on whether Trump would deploy troops in Iran to secure the Strait of Hormuz or another operation, Bessent said, “The command and control system of the Iranian regime is in chaos. This is Hitler’s bunker. Hitler is dead.” And because of the disarray among its leadership, he asserted, Iran’s retaliation to strikes are mostly “lone wolf activities.”

“It’s like they’ve never read a history book,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said on Meet the Press shortly following the Treasury secretary’s appearance. “That’s exactly what our leaders said in the middle of Vietnam and in the 20 years of mismanagement in Afghanistan.”