Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Bloomberg on Wednesday that tanker volumes leaving the Strait of Hormuz have risen yet will not fully recover without a new Iranian government or a shift in its current approach.

Morning figures showed a seven-day average just below 11 million barrels of oil and products moving by sea, the highest since fighting began, plus 3 to 5 million barrels a day through overland bypass lines. Wright credited U.S. naval escorts for making those passages possible amid ongoing hostilities.

Gulf-state tankers and some commercial vessels are using the route, he said, and Washington intends to increase the traffic further.