A cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz has been struck by an unknown projectile, causing a fire onboard, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said in an update on Wednesday morning.

The strike forced the crew of the ship, which has not been identified, to evacuate, the UKMTO said. It urged vessels to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity while authorities continue to investigate.

The incident took place 11 nautical miles north of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz. The UKMTO said there is no report of any environmental impact.

Shipping traffic through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz has ground to a near standstill since the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Iran has retaliated by targeting ships trying to pass through the strait, with multiple incidents reported in recent days.

The waterway is a narrow maritime corridor that connects the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Roughly 20% of global oil and gas typically passes through it.

U.S. forces sank several Iranian ships on Tuesday, including 16 minelayers, near the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. Central Command. The update followed an earlier announcement from U.S. President Donald Trump that said if Iran had put any mines in the waterway, “we want them removed, IMMEDIATELY!”

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Just outside Ireland’s capital, Dublin, a data center has become the first in Europe to turn to an independent, so-called “islanded,” microgrid to keep its servers running.

Europe is looking to cash in on the AI boom while tackling power connection delays that have persisted for decades. The European Commission estimates the bloc needs at least 1.2 trillion euros ($1.39 trillion) in investments by 2040. In some cases, companies can’t wait for bottlenecks to be eased and are turning to their own sources of power.

The Dublin facility, operated by power supply solutions provider AVK and digital infrastructure developer Pure Data Centre Group, could mark the continent’s first step toward a privately powered ecosystem.

Microgrids are localized energy systems that can generate, store, and distribute power. The systems are already being widely used in the U.S., where a boom in data centers in red-hot areas like Texas and Virginia has seen an increasing need for off-grid power.

AVK and Pure DC say their Dublin installation is the first data center in Europe to be operated by a live microgrid.

“As these data centers get bigger and we see AI workloads and that data becoming more of a feature in our day-to-day lives, that only puts more stress on the grid. So we have to drive to a different solution,” AVK CEO Ben Pritchard told CNBC.

The systems are not without their challenges. Regulatory hurdles could slow deployment, and the long-term success of microgrids likely depends on whether their power sources are both reliable and sustainable.

Ireland is one of two European countries to have enforced a moratorium on new data center applications as the energy-intensive facilities put pressure on the nation’s grid. The facilities consumed a staggering 22% of the small country’s power in 2024.

Ireland’s national grid operator warned in late February that meeting power demand could be “challenging” as consumers use electricity in new ways. It identified data centers as a key driver of that demand growth.

But late last year, Irish authorities eased the moratorium, as the AI boom saw sentiment U-turn on their economic potential.

All new data centers connecting to the grid must now provide dispatchable power — electricity that can be turned on or off depending on the national grid’s needs — or have the capacity to store energy. They must also source at least 80% of annual demand from renewable electricity generated in Ireland, according to guidelines set by the country’s regulator CRU.

“The alternative in Ireland was to wait, literally wait for an unknown time to be able to get a grid connection, and still today you’re not able to get a grid connection. So creating a microgrid enabled us to move our project forward,” Pure DC President Dawn Childs told CNBC.

Childs, who was appointed a Dame in the U.K. for her services to engineering, added that the project is intended as both an immediate and a long-term solution. “If we have to stay as an islanded solution, we absolutely can … However, to get the most sustainable solution and to provide services back into the grid in Dublin, in the most constrained area of Ireland, it would be our desire to get a grid connection.”

The Dublin data center, which can run both cloud and AI workloads, has a total capacity of about 110 megawatts. Total projected investment in the site is about 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion).

The facility is currently powered by natural gas engines with the ability to switch to Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO). The site has also trialled biomethane as a power source.

If the Dublin data center does eventually secure a grid connection, it will be able to offer dispatchable power and provide up to 20 MW of battery storage, Childs said.

The global microgrid market was worth around $29 billion in 2025, with Europe’s market expected to grow by nearly 10% per year due to its aging infrastructure, according to estimates from Global Market Insights. While investments are made in modernizing the national grid, companies are expected to increasingly turn to more immediate solutions for power.

Microgrids are already being used to power industrial sites and plants in Europe, but there aren’t many instances of them powering data centers when compared to the U.S.

In addition to AVK, companies such as ABB and Siemens are racing to develop the technology, with Schneider Electric opening a microgrid testing lab in Massachusetts last year to test the systems in real-world conditions.

Siemens sees “potential opportunities” for implementing microgrids at data center locations and is currently in discussions with several customers, a company spokesperson told CNBC. The topic is particularly relevant for the U.S. market, but it is also having similar discussions in Europe, they said.

Siemens is also interested in the use of microgrids to support electric vehicle charging infrastructure and port decarbonization.

AVK, which is expected to reach at least a billion-dollar valuation by 2030, initially focused on standby and backup power generation before expanding to become a full power solutions provider.

According to the company’s CEO, discussions and plans for microgrids were underway in Europe, but the U.S. market quickly overtook the 27-nation bloc. “It’s just that the U.S. has such a high demand that we’ve seen the rollout a little bit quicker than we’ve seen here in Europe,” Pritchard told CNBC, adding that the company is now seeing a new type of investor who is specifically interested in microgrids and not necessarily the data center itself.

“They’re infrastructure funds who are looking to build, own and operate microgrids and supply power to the data centers,” Pritchard said. He expects this type of asset class to mature over the next three to five years.

One of the biggest challenges facing the market is how microgrids are deployed sustainably, as much of the discussion on the tech has revolved around the use of gas turbines or fuel cells, Diego Diaz Hernandez, a partner at McKinsey, told CNBC.

“Making these assets grid participants in theory and in practice are very different questions,” Diaz Hernandez said.

“Technically speaking, it’s very feasible to do so, and we’ve seen examples of that in the U.S. [where] grid operators are requiring 50 or even 100 hours of flexibility out of the entire year in order to ease the pressure on the grid. So they’re not asking for a lot, but actually having the regulation and policy in place to allow for that to happen is a big question.”

Ensuring the power supply is reliable, as well as overcoming regulation, will also be key, Hernandez said. He noted that in the U.S., around 30% of data centers are adopting microgrid or other behind-the-meter solutions, like fuel cells and gas turbines — power sources that don’t require a connection to the main grid. In Europe, the share was just 5–10% 18 months ago, but has since already risen to about 20%, he added.

Challenges aside, the burden on data centers to provide their own sources of power is clearly growing. Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump said data centers “need some PR help” amid concerns about their impact on electricity prices.

Senate Democrats on Tuesday rebutted President Donald Trump’s claims that the war in Iran may soon be over, warning that the U.S. risks getting dragged into another prolonged conflict in the Middle East.

The concerns from Democrats who attended a bipartisan classified briefing with military brass on Tuesday stand in stark contrast with the president, who on Monday suggested the U.S. may be nearing the completion of its operation. Trump’s statements sent slumping markets soaring and cratered oil prices that had skyrocketed in recent days.

The senators were briefed as the Trump administration continues to whipsaw between explanations, goals and timelines for the war that has seen eight U.S. service members killed in action and left the longtime leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dead.

“What I heard is not just concerning, it is disturbing,” Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, whose members were briefed. “I’m not sure what the endgame is or what their plans are. … And if he does want to put us in a forever war, which it seems like he does, he needs to come out and let us be able to have that discussion.

“Do you think because he thinks he waves some magic wand that everything just stops? … It’s not going to stop just because he wishes it to be so,” Rosen said.

The pessimism from Democrats on an eventual U.S. end for the war it started with Israel against Iran comes as Congress awaits a potential supplemental funding request to finance the offensive. The effort has burned through billions of dollars of U.S. munitions, which will have to be refilled. Some Democrats said they would resist any request for further funding. Democrats have also balked at Trump failing to seek congressional authorization to begin the war.

“At this point, I am a hard no on a supplemental,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee. “No more money. The one thing Congress has the power to do is to stop actions like this through the power of the purse.”

“This is not a war supported by this country, and this is not a war that makes us safer,” Warren said.

Lawmakers exiting the meeting said the size of the potential supplemental package was not given. Republicans, who hold a 53-47 vote majority in the Senate, appeared willing to support more funding for the war when they left the briefing.

“Not in total dollar amounts that I’ve heard,” said Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind. “Obviously, there’s a cost to it, but the trade-off is exponentially more, and this has been a very effective operation so far.”

“We need to do whatever it takes to accomplish the mission and do it as fast as we can,” Banks said.

The Washington Post on Monday reported that the military burned through $5.6 billion in munitions in the first two days of the war that began Feb. 28. Washington-based bipartisan think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that the war is costing roughly $891 million per day.

Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., a former Navy Seal, suggested the cost is worth it.

“Iran’s been at war with us for 47 years; we’re trying to end this war,” Sheehy said, referencing the years since the Iranian regime came to power. “We’ve had two presidential administrations give billions of dollars to Iran, that’s what really cost [money].”

Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have painted a different picture of the timeline of the war than Democrats say they fear. Hegseth, at a press briefing earlier Tuesday pledged the U.S. will not enter another prolonged conflict in the Middle East, and Trump on Monday said the war would end “very soon.”

War costs are expected to only grow as the war drags on, and Democrats are warning there is no end in sight. The war dragging on could also see markets whip back and oil costs continue to soar, especially as the Strait of Hormuz, which carries roughly 20% of the world’s oil remains largely impassible.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said there was “no discussion” about the safety of passing through the Strait during the briefing while he was in attendance.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a retired Navy captain, also said the U.S. doesn’t appear to be nearing the end of the war after leaving the meeting.

“Clearly, they do not have a strategic goal,” he said. “They didn’t have a plan, they have no timeline. Because of that, they have no exit strategy.”

Correction: This story has been revised to reflect that Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., is a former Navy SEAL. A previous version misidentified the branch of the military in which he served.

A prolonged conflict in the Middle East could impact the semiconductor industry’s access to key materials while rising costs could hit demand for chips that have been central to the artificial intelligence boom, analysts warned.

The U.S.-Israel war with Iran has shone a spotlight on the role countries in the Middle East play in the complex and intricate semiconductor supply chain.

Semiconductor stocks were caught in the sell-off seen in equity markets before President Donald Trump said on Monday that war will end “very soon.”

Memory chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung have been hit particularly badly with more than $200 billion wiped off their combined value since the start of the war, even with both stocks rallying sharply on Tuesday. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF is down about 3% since the start of the war paring some losses after a 3.6% jump on Monday.

“A prolonged regional conflict could potentially disrupt chipmakers’ manufacturing operations regarding sourcing materials like Helium and Bromine,” Ray Wang, memory analyst at SemiAnalysis, told CNBC.

“For now, the impact appears to be limited. However, a prolonged conflict could eventually lead to disruptions or require adjustments in the sourcing of key materials.”

A South Korean lawmaker warned last week that the Iran war could hamper access to key materials from the Middle East such as helium, Reuters reported. The lawmaker also warned a prolonged conflict could lead to higher energy prices.

So, what exactly is the role of certain countries in the Middle East in the semiconductor supply chain?

Qatar produces over a third of the world’s helium supply, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Helium is used in the manufacturing process to transfer away heat. It is also used in areas like lithography, which is key for printing the intricate circuitry of a chip. There is no viable alternative to helium.

In 2023, the Semiconductor Industry Association warned that if the supply of helium were to be disrupted, “there would likely be shocks to the global semiconductor manufacturing industry.”

Not only is production an issue. Transportation of the element out of the Middle East could become increasingly difficult with the effective closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz shipping route.

More than 25% of the world’s helium supply would be taken off the market by an extended shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, Phil Kornbluth, president of Kornbluth Helium Consulting, told CNBC.

Qatar’s state-owned QatarEnergy produces helium as a byproduct of liquefied natural gas (LNG). QatarEnergy’s Ras Laffan Industrial City was hit by an Iranian drone attack last week, taking the site offline.

Kornbluth said it “is getting hard to imagine” that the world is not looking at a “minimum” two-to-three month shutdown of helium production and a four-to-six month period before the helium supply chain “returns to normal.”

Bromine is another element in focus and is a key part of the semiconductor manufacturing process. Around two-thirds of the world’s bromine production comes from Israel and Jordan, according to the USGS.

“There is modest risk to critical materials. Helium is the main one we are watching. Qatar is one of the largest sources of Helium. Canada and the United States are also large suppliers,” Peter Hanbury, partner in Bain & Company’s Technology practice, told CNBC.

Rising energy costs could also impact the semiconductor industry. That’s because so much of semiconductor demand, from Nvidia‘s graphics processing units to the memory chips products by Samsung and SK Hynix, are designed for data centers that are training and running huge AI models.

Because of the huge demand for AI and the hundreds of billions of dollars being poured by hyperscalers into building infrastructure, the world’s supply of memory chips has been funnelled into these projects. This has created a shortage of memory and an unprecedented price rise of these chips.

Germany’s Volkswagen on Tuesday reported a sharp drop in annual operating profit and flagged another tough year ahead as the auto giant continues to grapple with U.S. tariffs and competition in China.

Europe’s biggest carmaker posted 2025 operating profit of 8.9 billion euros ($10.4 billion), down 53% from the year prior, citing U.S. tariffs, currency effects and a strategic shift at Porsche. Analysts had expected annual operating profit to come in at 9.4 billion euros, according to LSEG consensus data.

Full-year revenue held steady at nearly 322 billion euros, compared to 324.7 billion euros in 2024, and the company’s outlook for sales growth is relatively modest in 2026. Volkswagen said it expects revenue to develop in a range between 0% to 3% this year, falling short of analyst expectations.

The company also said it anticipates an operating margin of between 4% and 5.5% in 2026, after coming in at 2.8% in 2025, down from 5.9% a year earlier.

Arno Antlitz, chief operating officer and chief financial officer at Volkswagen, described 2025 as a “really challenging” year but said the company remains “well positioned” in Europe.

“We increased our market share slightly despite increased Chinese competition. In electric vehicles, we even achieved a market share of more than 25%, 27%, so more than in the combustion engine segment,” Antlitz told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach on Tuesday.

Shares of Volkswagen rose 4% during early morning deals. The stock is down more than 12% year-to-date.

The results come as Europe’s automakers struggle to get to grips with a series of industry challenges, including robust competition from Chinese car brands and U.S. President Donald Trump’s import tariffs.

Analysts warned on Monday that there was no precedent for the surging price of oil, as the Middle East crisis deepens fears of prolonged production shut-ins and disruption to shipments through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.

Oil prices were on track for their biggest-ever jump in a single day on Monday, before significantly paring gains, following a fresh wave of U.S. and Israeli strikes across Iran over the weekend. Oil depots were among the targets.

International benchmark Brent crude futures with May delivery traded 12.8% higher at $104.53 per barrel on Monday morning, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures with April delivery were last seen nearly 12% higher at $101.76.

Brent futures had climbed as high as $119.5 per barrel earlier in the trading day, while WTI hit a session high of $119.48.

Neil Atkinson, former head of oil at the International Energy Agency, said the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz is something energy markets had never seen before. Unless something changes very soon “we are in a potentially game-changing and unprecedented energy crisis,” he told CNBC on Monday.

Countries across the oil-rich Middle East region have started to scale back crude output. Iraq and Kuwait have already begun to shut-in production, with analysts warning that the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia may also be vulnerable if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed for a sustained period.

“Though there are oil stocks around the world, the point is that if this closure of the Strait persists, those oil stocks if they are deployed will be depleted and we are going to be in a situation where, with the oil production actually shut in, in Iraq and possibly in Kuwait and maybe even in time in Saudi Arabia, that we are going to be in a crisis the likes of which we have never seen before,” Atkinson told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.”

Asked what this could mean for oil prices, Atkinson replied: “Sorry, we are getting into the realms of educated guesswork here. I mean, there is no precedent for this. The sky is the limit.”

Typically, about 20% of the world’s oil and gas passes through the Strait of Hormuz, but shipping traffic has all but halted through this key maritime corridor since the war started.

Oil prices came off their session highs on Monday shortly after the Financial Times reported that finance ministers from G7 economies would hold an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss a possible joint release of petroleum from reserves coordinated by the IEA.

The U.K.’s Treasury and French government confirmed to CNBC that the call would take place on Monday.

Tyler Goodspeed, chief economist at ExxonMobil, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Monday that it had been “consensus last week, and to a certain extent still today,” that everyone but Russia had “an interest in normal traffic resuming through the Strait of Hormuz.”

He added the consensus had been that there was “abundant oil on the water and some strategic reserves to cover any short-term gap.” Goodspeed said he was skeptical of this view as the conflict enters its second week.

“When I think of the probability distribution of possible outcomes here, it seems to me there are many more scenarios, and more probable scenarios, in which the strait remains effectively closed harder for longer than there are scenarios in which normal traffic resumes,” Goodspeed said.

Analysts at Societe Generale, meanwhile, warned that prolonged production shut-ins from Middle East countries “materially increase” the risk of restart complications.

“The UAE is likely the next producer at risk of shutting in output, potentially within the next five to seven days,” the analysts said in a research note published Monday.

“Qatar is also vulnerable, though its oil volumes are modest relative to its LNG exposure. Saudi Arabia faces less immediate risk but shut ins would become plausible if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed for a further two to three weeks,” they added.

— CNBC’s Holly Ellyatt contributed to this report.

Iran’s Kharg Island, a small but strategically vital strip of land nestled in the waters of the northern Persian Gulf, has been left untouched by U.S. and Israeli forces even as the Middle East conflict enters its second week.

The coral island, which is located about 15 miles off the coast of mainland Iran, serves as the centerpiece for Iran’s oil industry.

It is estimated that around 90% of the country’s crude exports pass through it before tankers then travel through the Strait of Hormuz. The island is also said to have a loading capacity of roughly 7 million barrels per day.

Kharg Island’s economic importance to Iran makes it particularly vulnerable to the threat of military action, although analysts say that any attempt to seize it would likely require a ground troop operation, which the U.S. appears reluctant to undertake.

An attack would also likely prompt further energy market volatility at a time when oil prices have soared to more than $100 a barrel.

Seizing the island “would cut off Iran’s oil lifeline,” which is essential for the regime, according to Petras Katinas, a research fellow in climate, energy and defense at RUSI, a London-based defense think tank.

“Of course, with shipping via the Strait of Hormuz now stopped, they cannot sell oil anyway, but looking ahead, seizure would give the US leverage during negotiations, no matter which regime is in power after the military operation ends,” Katinas told CNBC by email.

“Yet, seizure, would require a ground troop operation, which this administration seems hesitant to undertake. At least for now,” he added.

Crude futures climbed to their highest level since mid-2022 on Monday after the U.S. and Israel launched a fresh wave of strikes across Iran over the weekend.

The attacks struck several Iranian fuel sites, including oil storage depots, signaling a new phase of the war as the sprawling Middle East crisis continues into its tenth day.

International benchmark Brent crude futures with May delivery traded nearly 16% higher at $107.18 per barrel on Monday morning, paring earlier gains, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures with April delivery were last seen 12.5% higher at $102.1.

“If President Trump were to decide to seize this pivotal hub, it would deal a significant blow to the Iranian regime, as it would deprive them of a critical source of revenue. Such a move would be reminiscent of the U.S. intervention in Venezuela at the beginning of the year, when it effectively took control of the country’s oil sector,” Tamas Varga, an oil analyst at brokerage PVM, told CNBC By email.

An attempt to seize the island would require U.S. troops on the ground and likely see it become a multi-week target for Iranian drones, Gustafson said in a LinkedIn post last week.

He also warned it could push oil prices up even further and Tehran may even consider an act of self-sabotage to destroy the oil pipeline that feeds it.

“There is one concept or one dimension of this that no one seemingly has mentioned, which is Kharg Island,” Jan van Eck, CEO of VanEck Funds, told CNBC’s “Power Lunch” on March 2.

“It’s where 90% of Iran’s oil gets exported out of — that is a choke point. And if you think that Trump just follows the same playbook that he did in Venezuela. What did he do? He cut off their oil exports, their hard currency, and I think he is going to want that leverage point going forward,” Van Eck said.

Congressional Democrats are demanding that the Trump administration immediately reverse a sanctions waiver allowing Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil as the Iran war wreaks havoc on global energy markets.

“Your recent decision to provide a 30-day waiver is dangerous, self-defeating, and indefensible,” Rep. Sam Liccardo, D-Calif., and Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., wrote in a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, which was shared exclusively with CNBC. “This waiver constitutes an inexplicable act of material benefit to the enemy.”

The Treasury Department last week issued a temporary 30-day sanctions carveout to allow India to buy Russian oil, an effort to ease skyrocketing oil prices caused by the war and the traffic standstill at the Strait of Hormuz.

The oil surge comes less than eight months before the November midterm elections that could flip the House of Representatives and the Senate to Democratic control, and polls show voters are souring on President Donald Trump’s handling of the economy.

After the sanctions waiver was issued, however, it was reported that Russia is assisting Iran in targeting U.S. ships, aircraft, and bases in the region. Gallego and Liccardo warned in the letter against the temporary lifting of the sanctions, which rewards Russia with a windfall as it helps to target U.S. troops in the Middle East.

“Rather than performing the necessary contingency planning that would keep India and other allies supplied with alternative sources, the Administration’s hapless approach has allowed Russia and other adversaries to profit from oil reserves previously constrained by sanctions, supporting Russian efforts to harm U.S. troops and thwart U.S. intelligence,” Gallego and Liccardo wrote in their letter. “By providing this waiver, you have signaled that the United States will reward attacks on our troops, not deter them.”

About 20% of the world’s oil and gas moves through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely impassible since the beginning of the U.S. and Israeli assault on Tehran.

Oil prices have surged in the days since the war began. U.S. crude oil topped $108 per barrel on Sunday, as did the global benchmark Brent, which rapidly approached $110 a barrel. That’s caused U.S. gasoline prices to spike, jumping to $3.44 per gallon on Sunday, according to Gasbuddy.

The price spikes come as both parties seek to win over economically anxious voters ahead of the November midterm elections that will determine whether Democrats or Republicans control Congress for Trump’s final years in office. Trump promised to lower costs, including gas prices, during his 2024 campaign — but his approval on the economy has plummeted as voters express concern about affordability.

Liccardo and Gallego, who are members of the House Financial Services Committee and Senate Banking Committee, argue in their letter that the war is only making life less affordable for Americans.

“A prolonged conflict with Iran and wider military operations throughout the Middle East will only deepen the energy cost-crisis, burdening Americans to pay more at the pump, and exacerbating the affordability crisis facing too many Americans,” they wrote.

Meanwhile, millions of barrels of Russian oil are stranded at sea due to U.S. sanctions imposed as punishment for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright defended the move to temporarily allow the sale of Russian oil into India, calling it a “pragmatic step” that diverts oil that eventually would be sold to China. He said it could help alleviate price spikes in the immediate term, until the U.S. achieves its military aims in Iran.

“We’re not helping Russia by just accelerating the sale of their oil to stop the rise of energy prices and keep European and Asian refineries in oil,” Wright said. “We’re just doing pragmatic things to get through a short period that’ll bring in an era of even lower energy prices.”

Pressed on the reports of Russian intelligence sharing, Wright said, “There have been rumors of that, we don’t know if that’s true or not.”

He added: “Russia is an expert at causing trouble around the world.”

Liccardo and Gallego asked Bessent whether he plans to continue offering waivers if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. They also asked whether the Treasury Department had advance notice of the intelligence sharing between Russia and Iran, and whether there are any conditions that would cause the waiver to be revoked.

The pair also demanded information on any emergency oil price stabilization plans the administration had before launching the assault on Iran.

“The questions below address two distinct lines of accountability. The first concerns the specific waiver decision and its immediate consequences for sanctions integrity, energy markets, and troop safety,” they wrote of the questions. “The second concerns the administration’s planning failures prior to its unauthorized military action, and the absence of coordination with allies and partners, whose cooperation is essential to maintaining American sanctions architecture, which this waiver now undermines.”

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said oil and gas prices will begin to fall when the U.S. begins to knock out Iran’s ability to hinder tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, as Americans weather spiking gas prices due to the war in Iran.

“The plan is to get oil and natural gas and fertilizer and all the products from the Gulf flowing through the straits before too long,” Wright said on Fox News Sunday. “We’re massively attriting their ability to strike with missiles and drones, and that rate of attrition will increase in the coming days. So we’ll be cautious, we’ll be careful, but energy will flow soon.”

President Donald Trump was elected to a second term in the White House in part by promising to lower gas prices and defeat high inflation. He has frequently touted lower gas prices ahead of the November midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress for the remainder of his term.

But gas prices and oil have spiked since the war began in Iran, with vessel bottlenecks in the Strait of Hormuz causing the surge. About 20% of global energy supply moves through the strait.

Gas has jumped to over $3.46 per gallon on average in the U.S., according to GasBuddy. U.S. crude oil has soared to more than $91 per barrel, and the global benchmark Brent crude has spiked to over $92 per barrel.

Wright said that “one large tanker has already gone through the straits with no issues at all.” Typically, roughly 100 tankers and cargo ships move through the strait every day.

Wright said the disruption would last for “weeks, certainly not months.”

“We believe this is a small price to pay to get to a world where energy prices will return back to where they were,” Wright said. “Iran will finally be defanged, and now you can see more investment, more free flow of trade, less ability to threaten energy supplies.”

When asked about potentially tapping the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to reduce pain at the pump, Wright suggested such a move is not necessary yet. In the past, the SPR has been tapped to mitigate disruptions in oil flows.

“We’re more than happy to use [the SPR] if needed,” Wright said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “But … it’s a logistics issue, where do they need oil? They need oil at refineries in Europe and in Asia.”

Trump has also downplayed the option of tapping the SPR.

“We’ve got a lot of oil. Our country has a tremendous amount,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday. “There’s a lot of oil out there. That’ll get healed very quickly.”

WATCH: No traffic will flow through Strait of Hormuz until a resolution with Iran: Kpler’s Matt Smith