Addressing the ongoing oil price crisis, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Thursday that the Trump administration is considering temporarily removing sanctions on Iranian crude oil stranded on tankers in international waters. The measure is intended to compensate for the oil supply disruption caused by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
For nearly two weeks, oil prices have exceeded $100 per barrel as Iran’s Hormuz blockade has removed an estimated 10 to 14 million barrels per day from the global market. The sustained price increase has placed significant economic burdens on importing nations, businesses, and households around the world.
Bessent confirmed that approximately 140 million barrels of Iranian crude are stranded on tankers that had been heading toward China. He said the administration may issue a temporary sanctions waiver to allow this oil to reach global buyers, providing an estimated 10 to 14 days of supply relief while the US continues its response to Iran’s blockade.
The Treasury has issued a similar waiver for Russian oil earlier in the crisis, adding roughly 130 million barrels to world supply. Bessent also outlined plans for additional Strategic Petroleum Reserve releases beyond the coordinated G7 commitment of 400 million barrels, while firmly ruling out any direct involvement in financial energy futures markets.
Independent analysts and sanctions experts were critical. They argued that the Iranian government would benefit financially from any oil sales, regardless of the waiver’s scope, potentially providing resources to fund military operations and proxy forces. Policy specialists questioned whether temporary price relief justified the strategic cost of temporarily validating Iranian oil revenues.