CNN’s Jake Tapper grilled National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett live on TV Sunday after he tried to defend his previous prediction that shipping activity and traffic through the Strait of Hormuz would soon return to normal amid the war in Iran.
During Hassett’s appearance on “State of the Union,” Tapper hurled Hassett’s previous comments back in his face while calling out the delayed reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route for global oil. The waterway remains effectively closed nearly six months after President Donald Trump started the war with the Middle Eastern country.
“A month ago, you said that you were, quote, ‘bullish that there’s going to be a heck of a lot of traffic moving through every single day,’” Tapper said. “And that you expect that this will, quote, ‘cruise to normalcy sometime really, really soon.’”
Noting “that is not the case right now,” Tapper then mentioned the sweeping demands Iran recently slung at the U.S. in order for the strait to reopen.
“That set of demands includes the lifting of the naval blockade and sanctions, war reparations, the release of frozen Iranian assets, [and] an end to attacks on Iran’s allies,” he told Hassett. “So I guess I just don’t know when ‘really, really soon’ is.”
The U.S. said last week it was nearing an Iran deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as negotiations have remained gridlocked. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Saturday that talks with Oman, which also borders the strait, were “approaching the final stages,” although Iran declared that it won’t reopen the waterway unless the U.S. meets its demands.
Meanwhile, as of Sunday morning, the average price of a gallon of regular gas in the U.S. was $4.01 compared to a gallon of gas previously ringing up at around $3.15 this time last year, according to data from the American Automobile Association.
Hassett replied to Tapper by trying to hype up oil prices decreasing from $100 a barrel to $80 before veering off and admitting that gas “prices are still higher than we would like.”
“We’ve taken a lot of steps so that when the Gulf situation is resolved, then we can expect prices to go way, way down,” he added.
But Tapper didn’t let him off the hook. The CNN host then referred Hassett back to his previous claims yet again.
“You said you’re bullish, there’s going to be a heck of a lot of traffic moving—” Tapper argued before Hassett interjected to say, “There is traffic moving―”
As Hassett stumbled to explain, Tapper fiercely cut him off, retorting, “I wouldn’t call it a heck of a lot. It’s not a heck of a lot, though.”