← Videos · Energy & Permitting

Wright on Iran Blockade, a Reactor Bound for Utah and Pipeline Plans on My View With Lara Trump

April 19, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:07:03

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright appeared on My View With Lara Trump in an interview published April 19, 2026. The segment opened with President Trump saying the military blockade on Iranian ports would end when an agreement is signed and that Iran must not obtain a nuclear weapon. Wright said he was proud of the President’s decision to confront Iran and end what he called a 47-year menace, acknowledged a few weeks of higher gasoline prices, and said prices had been heading down for several days and that he believed the United States was close to a significant resolution of Iran’s threat and nuclear ambitions.

Wright said the episode had exposed allied dependence on imported energy, noting reports that Europe could run out of jet fuel within weeks, as the host stated them. He said the United States was the world’s largest natural gas exporter and would probably also be the largest crude oil exporter that month and the next, and he urged allies in Europe and Asia to revive their own oil and gas production.

On nuclear energy, Wright called the nuclear renaissance huge, extending to propulsion and space as well as the grid. He said that a few weeks earlier he had flown on a C-17 transport carrying a 5-megawatt next-generation small modular reactor from Los Angeles to Utah, and that the reactor would be running before July 4th of this year, as he stated the timeline.

Discussing the department’s budget and infrastructure agenda, Wright criticized California as the most expensive state for gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and electricity, saying it imports 60 percent of its oil from overseas, as he stated the figure. He said a groundbreaking had been held in Brooklyn for a new gas pipeline from Pennsylvania to serve New York City and Long Island, and that the administration wanted similar infrastructure for the six New England states and hoped to reach California, Oregon and Washington, arguing all Americans should have affordable, reliable energy.

Why it matters

The interview bundles the administration’s Iran energy case with two concrete, datable infrastructure claims — a reactor start date and a Brooklyn pipeline groundbreaking — from the official in charge of both.

Scoreboard watch

Wright said the 5-megawatt small modular reactor flown from Los Angeles to Utah would be running before July 4, 2026. That is a specific dated claim recorded here as he stated it; no verdict is recorded.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Joins My View With Lara Trump - April 18, 2026”, 2026-04-19 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-04-19). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.