US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States could reach an agreement with Iran on a temporary ceasefire “maybe even today or tomorrow,” adding that energy prices would fall once the Strait of Hormuz is reopened.

Axar.az reports that, speaking in an interview with 12 News, Bessent said Washington would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and claimed that US military and economic pressure had significantly weakened Tehran.

“Well, we're never going to let them have a nuclear weapon. We had epic fury, which was the kinetic portion at Treasury. We did economic fury. What goes a little publicized is on the kinetic side,” Bessent said.

He claimed that Iran’s military capabilities had been severely damaged.

"Air Force is wiped out. Navy is wiped out. A big portion of their missiles, more importantly their missile production on the economic side, we have them by the throat, and they've got 150, 180% food inflation, not able to pay the troops,” he said.

He predicted that a temporary truce could soon be reached.

“I think shortly, maybe even today, tomorrow, we are going to see an agreement, a 30 to 60-day ceasefire and the strait will be open. Energy prices should come down.”

Addressing concerns that the Strait of Hormuz may never return to its previous role in global energy trade, Bessent said he believed the waterway would gradually lose its strategic importance.

“The strait is never going back to the way it was because the Iranians have used, or tried to use it as a choke point. What we are going to see over the next two years, the strait is going to become irrelevant. It is going to become just another body of water.”

Bessent further claimed that future energy transport would increasingly bypass the strait.

“More than 50 or 70% of the energy that moves through the strait now is going to go through underground pipelines.”