Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday the flow of tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz is getting “back towards normal,” the latest in what has become essentially a daily back-and-forth about the disposition of the key, international oil-shipping route.  

Wright also spoke a day after Iranian officials signaled they would be closing the waterway, through which roughly 20% of the world's oil passes, due to Israeli strikes in Lebanon.

Reopening the strait and allowing ships to pass through without being attacked is a key part of the U.S.-Iran negotiation to end their war. 

Since the war started in late February, the U.S. and Iran, which borders the strait, have each purportedly blockaded it. And Iran has purportedly considered charging a fee for safe passage.  

A Trump administration official says 67 ships went through the strait on Saturday, a slight increase from 55 on Friday as the U.S. military escorts them, according to The Hill newspaper.

“I think it’s that returning flows back toward normal without any cooperation at all from Iran, that’s the leverage President Trump used to get the Iranians to come to the table," Wright said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”