Ex-energy chief calls gas price surge ‘short-term pain’ for ‘long-term gain’

President Trump’s former Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette on Friday defended the White House’s ongoing military operation in Iran, even as global crude oil rates spike.

Brouillette, in an appearance on NewsNation’s “The Hill,” emphasized that rising energy costs are a “short-term pain” in exchange for a “long-term gain.”

“I think what the president sees here is he needs to take a longer-term strategy and he is taking a longer-term strategy,” he told host Blake Burman. “We’re paying high prices today, but those prices will come down.”

The former energy secretary, who served in Trump’s first administration, said the U.S. risks even higher global energy rates in 10 or 15 years if Iran develops nuclear weapons. The Trump administration launched strikes on the country alongside Israel late last month, after negotiations with Tehran over its embattled nuclear program stalled.

“I think that the president is correct in taking this on today,” Brouillette said Friday. “It’s a lot of short-term pain. There’s no question about that, but it is for long term gain.”

The Trump administration has made several moves in recent weeks to combat rising energy costs for American consumers. 

The president lifted sanctions on Iranian and Russian oil already at sea, freed up barrels from the U.S.’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, boosted domestic oil production and loosened U.S. shipping laws. 

Iranian counterstrikes in the Strait of Hormuz have effectively halted the flow of vessels carrying fuel through the major trading corridor, cutting off significant amounts of the global Brent crude oil supply. 

The average price of regular gas in the U.S. on Saturday was up by nearly a dollar from a month ago. A majority of Americans in a Reuters/Ipsos survey released on Friday said they expect gas prices to keep climbing amid this ongoing conflict in the Middle East. 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Thursday that these rising energy prices could result in higher global inflation rates if the conflict is prolonged. 

Some experts have also expressed skepticism that these tactics will be effective in bringing down energy costs.

“At the end of the day, there is only one real solution to the energy price issue, and that is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and allow more oil supply onto world markets,” Edmund Crooks, the vice chair of the Americas at research firm Wood Mackenzie, told The Hill this week.

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