The Trump administration may take the extraordinary step of lifting sanctions on Iranian oil currently stranded on tankers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed Thursday. With global energy markets reeling from Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Washington is exploring every available tool to stabilize oil prices that have exceeded $100 per barrel.
Bessent told viewers of a morning financial program that roughly 140 million barrels of Iranian crude are sitting idle on tankers, representing oil that was originally destined for Chinese customers. He said the administration views this oil as a short-term buffer that, if freed from sanctions, could help bridge the supply gap for approximately 10 to 14 days while US military and diplomatic efforts continue.
A well-placed government source said the Treasury is considering a waiver modeled on the mechanism used earlier for Russian oil, which successfully redirected 130 million barrels of sanctioned crude into global markets. Any such waiver, the source indicated, would be carefully scoped and time-limited to avoid creating a broader loophole in the US sanctions regime against Iran.
Bessent also confirmed that the US plans to go beyond the G7’s coordinated 400-million-barrel release from strategic petroleum reserves, with a unilateral American drawdown also in the works. He was explicit that these measures are designed to increase physical oil supply, not to interfere with financial futures markets or price derivatives.
Reactions from independent experts were sharply critical. Sanctions analysts warned that any cash flowing to Tehran from oil sales could strengthen the very government the US is working to pressure, potentially undermining the effectiveness of economic sanctions that have been years in the making. The question of whether short-term price relief is worth the strategic cost remains hotly contested.