EPA Administrator Uses Newsmax Appearance to Spin Middle East Military Escalation as an American Energy Opportunity
Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency — an agency he has spent his tenure systematically weakening — told Newsmax on Wednesday that the ongoing U.S. military conflict with Iran is accelerating a global shift toward American oil exports. His remarks came as oil prices remain stubbornly above $100 a barrel, with no clear timeline for relief.
Zeldin appeared on Rob Schmitt Tonight to argue that geopolitical instability in the Middle East is pushing Indo-Pacific nations to diversify away from Persian Gulf oil and toward U.S. suppliers — framing a military blockade and its economic fallout as a net positive for American energy interests.
The Blockade Behind the Talking Points
The U.S. military is currently enforcing a blockade targeting Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint that handles roughly 20% of the global oil supply. The stated goal is to cut off revenue to Tehran and compel it to accept U.S. peace terms.
That blockade has contributed directly to global supply uncertainty — the same uncertainty Zeldin is now presenting as a commercial opportunity for American producers.
“They know the supply that we have, and they’re doing the math,” Zeldin said, describing how foreign nations are weighing shipping times and freedom of navigation. “It will take eight days [from the U.S.], and I’ll have total freedom of navigation. It’s a no-brainer.”
Deregulation Framed as Energy Liberation
Zeldin also used the appearance to defend the administration’s rollback of environmental regulations, arguing that Biden-era EPA rules had been strangling domestic energy production.
“We are rolling back so many Biden-era rules at the EPA, where they were trying to strangle out of existence entire sectors of our energy economy, and we’re unleashing that,” he said.
What Zeldin did not mention: many of those rolled-back rules were designed to limit air and water pollution, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and protect public health — not simply to constrain energy output. The EPA’s own mission is environmental protection, a mandate Zeldin has consistently subordinated to fossil fuel expansion.
High Prices, Vague Answers
When pressed on oil prices — which have remained above $100 a barrel and could climb further during the summer travel season — Zeldin declined to offer any concrete forecast.
“I can’t predict for you the developments with the talks that are going on,” he said, adding that the administration’s national security team “have been achieving all of their military objectives.”
He suggested that increased U.S. production and new export deals could eventually offset supply disruptions tied to the Iran conflict, but offered no timeline or specific data to support that claim.
What’s Missing From This Picture
Zeldin’s framing raises several questions that went unasked on Newsmax:
Zeldin closed with a boast that on energy, the Trump administration has been “crushing it really since the moment President Trump was sworn back in.” Whether ordinary Americans paying over $100 a barrel in oil-linked costs share that assessment remains another matter entirely.