WASHINGTON (TNND) — The U.S. is temporarily lifting sanctions on Russian oil currently stranded at sea in an effort to keep soaring energy prices low amid the war with Iran, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Thursday.
“This narrowly tailored, short-term measure applies only to oil already in transit and will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government, which derives the majority of its energy revenue from taxes assessed at the point of extraction,” Bessent wrote on X.
The exemptions will be in place until April 11, the Treasury Department reported.
“President Trump’s pro-energy policies have driven U.S. oil and gas production to record levels, contributing to lower fuel prices for hardworking Americans,” Bessent added. “The temporary increase in oil prices is a short-term and temporary disruption that will result in a massive benefit to our nation and economy in the long-term.”
Earlier this week, Trump said the U.S. will release 172 million barrels from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, joining a coordinated 400-million-barrel release from 32 International Energy Agency member countries, including Germany, France, the U.K., and Japan.
Energy prices have soared since the U.S. began strikes on Iran last month. Iran has responded to attacks by effectively cutting off the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint that carries nearly 20% of the world’s oil.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday that Iran is “expressing sheer desperation in the Strait of Hormuz” and that the U.S. is “dealing” with it.
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Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, vowed in his first public message to keep the strait closed “as a tool of pressure.”
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