Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joins CNBC’s “Squawk Box” to discuss the ongoing war in Iran, impact on oil prices, how U.S. will provide insurance to oil tankers in the Persian Gulf to get traffic moving through the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. sanctions against Iran, potential trade embargo against Spain, future of President Trump’s tariff agenda, state of the economy, and more. In this portion, Bessent said the U.S. Navy will provide safe passage through the straits for oil tankers. “Everything is going magnificently,” Bessent said. “The execution of Epic Fury is proceeding and doing better than planned. I believe last night we took full control of the Iranian skies, along with the Israeli Air Force.”

JOE KERNEN, CNBC ‘SQUAWK BOX’ HOST: To our newsmaker of the morning, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant. Mr. Secretary, it’s good to see you. SECRETARY OF TREASURY SCOTT BESSENT: Joe, good to be with you and Becky this morning. KERNEN: We have been, I guess, focusing on some other secretaries, secretaries of war, secretaries of state, but I just have a feeling that you’ve been fairly busy as Secretary of Treasury and doing all you can to help in this effort with the war in Iran. BESSENT: Well, Joe, the Secretary of Treasury and the Secretary of Energy, so Chris Wright and myself, sit on the National Security Council. And I can tell you that we’ve had months and weeks of planning for an event like this. But I want to congratulate our Department of War and the leadership there. Everything is going magnificently. The execution of Epic Fury is proceeding and doing better than planned. I believe last night we took full control of the Iranian skies, along with the Israeli Air Force. So, the two most powerful air forces in the world now have complete control of the Iranian sky. And we began a massive bombing campaign. And we will take out their ballistic missiles and the bunkers over the coming days. KERNEN: So many intersections in what the military is trying to do, what President Trump is trying to do, and what you and the Energy Secretary control, especially with what we’re hearing about the Strait of Hormuz. We’re watching oil prices. I guess you, out of the corner of your eye, saw the stock markets around the world. Pretty good performance in this country over the last two sessions, given what we’re undertaking at this point. BESSENT: Well, Joe, if I put on my hat from my previous life as a fund manager, this was a well-telegraphed geopolitical event. The crude market had already moved substantially over the past two months. So, the move we saw on Monday wasn’t even in the top 50 moves in crude. And, again, what I can tell you is that there’s been a lot of biased and bad reporting here. And I would encourage everyone to look through the noise and see where we are going on the other side of this. In terms of the crude markets, the crude markets are very well supplied. There are hundreds of millions of barrels on the water, away from the Gulf. But, more importantly, we have a series of announcements that we’re going to be making. We began yesterday with the announcement that the DFC will provide the insurance for both the crude carriers and the cargo ships operating in and around the Gulf. Over the weekend, Lloyd’s of London nullified the insurance. So, U.S. government is going to step in. And when it is appropriate and should it be needed, the U.S. Navy will provide safe passage through the straits for the oil tankers. KERNEN: We’re a different country now in terms of production, obviously. And, obviously, President Trump has something to do with that. And we’re well supplied in this country now. But it is a global market price and everything else. Any thought, Mr. Secretary, of tapping any of the SPRs? We tapped it for-there was an election coming, and we tapped it because prices were too high in the last administration. And any reason to do that now? BESSENT: Again, Joe, Secretary Wright, the National Security Council, President Trump, we’ve all been coordinating on this well in advance. We believe the market is very well supplied. We are in contact with many of the countries around the world via the IEA. There is a gigantic SPR, not only in the U.S., but around the world. But the point you made, Joe, in terms of the energy dominance that President Trump has put forward during this administration, we’re in a very, very different position than when the Russians invaded Ukraine. We are at all-time high in production, both for oil and natural gas. We are an exporter to the rest of the world. And U.S. LNG continues to flow around the world. So this is a very different ballgame than in February of 22. BECKY QUICK, CNBC: Secretary Besant, thank you for being with us this morning. The idea of providing insurance to all of those carriers, how does that work in practice? Is it something that those certificates are being issued at the moment? We’ve watched the tankers and all of the ships that are sitting on either side of the Strait of Hormuz afraid to go through it. I don’t believe those ships have started moving yet. But how would that insurance work in practice? When would the Navy actually step in and start doing some of these things? BESSENT: Well, again, Becky, I think we’re inside the 12- or 24-hour window from our announcement yesterday, and that Ben Black, president of DFC, has already had a plan in his pocket for months for this contingency. And we will be moving out to the ship owners, to the insurance brokers, and over the coming days. And, you know, I can also tell you that the Iranian Navy is substantially degraded. Most of their ships are sunk. And the U.S. has naval and air dominance in the region.

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