Secretary of Energy Chris Wright told the Senate Energy and Environmental Resources Committee Tuesday Department of Energy nuclear experts are involved in negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran, including himself.
“Look, I’m the primary energy advisor to the president and have been discussing the Iran situation, and potential solutions to the Iran situation since the day I was sworn in,” Wright said. The secretary did not directly confirm whether he was involved in reopening the Strait of Hormuz in an effort to ease skyrocketing energy prices.
Wright, in testimony on the fiscal 2027 DOE budget, was responding to a question from Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii). Hirono criticized President Donald Trump’s three main personnel involved in Iran’s negotiations currently: Vice President J.D. Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
“None of these three people have expertise on nuclear energy or nuclear weapons, and they are supposed to be negotiating a new nuclear deal with Iran, right?” Hirono said. “Is anyone from the Department of Energy going to be in the room with the Iranians” and “negotiating a new nuclear deal with Iran?”
“We are in contact with all three of the parties you mentioned on the nuclear issue, what would be required, how we might implement such a deal, so we are absolutely involved in that process,” Wright answered.
When Hirono asked for a name, Wright said, “the number one person is me. I have a background in nuclear as well, but people on our nonproliferation team have been engaged as well. In fact, we have a special team that is focused on solutions to the Iran situation, depending on which way it goes.”
Wright said the team of nuclear nonproliferation experts had the same amount of expertise that Ernie Moniz, who served at various points as secretary of energy and undersecretary of science and energy during the Barack Obama administration. Moniz was chief negotiator of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), otherwise known as the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Hirono responded she had “major skepticism” that the current team has Moniz’s level of expertise.
“These negotiations [for the JCPOA] took a long time,” Hirono said. “It took a number of countries, and it was just immediately torn up by the president.”
The JCPOA involved the U.S., Iran, China, Russia, and the E3 nations, and involved lifting sanctions on Iran in return for restrictions on its nuclear program. The U.S. was involved in the deal until 2018, when Trump pulled out of it in his first term to reimpose some sanctions on Iran.