Could the US end the war without reopening the Strait of Hormuz?

As the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran enters its second month,

this concern around the way in which the U.S. could exit from the conflict.

This growing speculation that the U.S. could exit the war without putting things

back to the way they were, specifically regarding the Strait of Hormuz,

the concern is being fueled by comments overnight from the Defense Secretary,

Pete Hegseth, and his doubling down of Donald Trump's comments.

So I just wanted to give us a sense of just what has been said in the last 24 hours.

Overnight Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that criticism of countries not helping reopen

the Strait of Hormuz. He said, quote, build up some delayed courage, go to the strait and just take it,

you know, he's talking about the oil. And he says that the U.S. won't be there to help you

anymore, just like you weren't there for us. Now, of course, when he fronted the mic and it has

been rare that Pete Hegseth has done this. He hasn't spoken for almost two weeks now at a press

conference. He was questioned about how big a priority reopening the Strait was for Washington,

specifically if it was an essential objective to Operation Epic Fury or if it was really just

the responsibility of other countries. Our core objectives from this podium from day one to

been clear, defense missile production and missile programs, defense industrial base and

production ability to build and Navy and power projection. And then, of course, wrapping it all

is Iran's never going to have a nuclear weapon. So those have been very clear. But ultimately,

I think the president's truth this morning lays that out very well that this Strait of Hormuz

issue is not just a United States of America problem set. And he's pointing out, you know, you might

might want to start learning how to fight for yourself. You can hear his Fox News commentary skills

out that he's relying on to sell the president's social media posts there. But in that answer, he does

not say that reopening the Strait is an objective of the war. And he's pointed to all these things

that the administration has been saying it's already accomplished. And the notion that it has

completed its initial objectives is catching on. This week on 730, we heard Australian Prime

Minister Anthony Albanese say that the objectives outlined at the beginning of this conflict have been

largely achieved. So, you know, what about the problems created by this conflict? Earlier this

morning, we heard the Atlantic Council's Alison Miner say that we could be in a situation where the

war ends and the world could still be dealing with a closed Strait of Hormuz. So is there a risk that

the US and Israel say mission complete without doing the washing up, Sally? That is a question

worth asking. Yeah, it was really interesting hearing from Alison Miner in the previous half hour

that question, not when the war will end, but who wants it to keep going? Who's got a vested

interest in it continuing? Well, it's hard to keep up with what's happening on the markets at the

moment. Wall Street has staged a dramatic surge with stocks climbing on hopes that the war in the

Middle East could soon be over. Carrington Clark is with me. Carrington, what's happened overnight

in New York? Yes, Sally, you complain that I never bring you positive news. So there is some,

although it comes with a giant butt at the end of the day. He did it when you're taking away,

exactly. So there has been this burst of enthusiasm on the markets to end the month in the US

trading. Nasdaq, that's the tech heavy indices. It's up, the stock exchange is up more than 3%,

the S&P 500, up more than two and a half percent. Now, traders are excited by the signs that perhaps

the war could be coming to a close. But one of the butts is Donald Trump seems to be okay with

declaring mission accomplished, even with the Strait of Humors closed, that he's actually stating

very clearly that this isn't one of their priorities and that other countries need to take ownership

of opening up that Strait of Humors, which means even if America declares that they have found

that almost mystic exit ramp at this point, that it could still mean that we're dealing with a

major interruption to the flow of oil. Now, the timing is also interesting, particularly on the

American side. We spoke yesterday about how we'd seen West Texas intermediate. This is the most

important price of oil for Americans had settled above 100 US dollars a barrel. I suggested that

perhaps that would cause even more political pressure to be put on Donald Trump. Well, that's

immediately flowed through to the price of fuel that a petrol that Americans are paying for.

What they call gas has now breached on average $4 a gallon, which is how they measure it,

and that is even more critical in actually mounting a political blowback against Donald Trump. You

can see why he has every motivation to try to get out of this situation. Now, this is all really

people buying on rumors at the moment, and therefore we could see them sell on the fact if we don't

actually see these negotiations go anywhere. But at the moment, at least investors are buying the

story that perhaps we're getting closer to this being resolved, and that's why we've seen such a

strong rally in the US.