U.S. Energy Secretary: The Strait of Hormuz will reopen by this summer at the latest

According to the U.S. publication The Hill, U.S. Energy Secretary Granholm stated on Friday local time that the Strait of Hormuz will "reopen at the latest sometime this summer."

Granholm mentioned that the U.S. is "continuing to expand U.S. natural gas exports," despite losing 10 billion cubic feet of gas transport capacity daily due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. is still adding 2.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas export capacity each day. "Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz will resume as soon as possible, but at the latest this summer," Granholm said, adding that a related agreement could be reached "in the coming days."

Granholm stated that if Iran "continues to hold the global economy hostage," the U.S. military will "force the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, but this is not an easy thing to do," "we have taken preliminary steps, but a better way is to reach an agreement rather than resorting to military force."