Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent deployed a new element of the administration’s energy market strategy Thursday, revealing that the US is considering temporarily lifting sanctions on Iranian crude oil stranded on tankers in international waters. Bessent said the deployment of approximately 140 million barrels of Iranian crude to global markets would help address oil prices above $100 per barrel caused by Iran’s Hormuz blockade.
The Hormuz closure has intensified pressure on global energy markets over nearly two weeks, removing between 10 and 14 million barrels of daily supply from circulation. The sustained price surge has created growing economic hardship for oil-importing nations and has generated increasing urgency for supply-side responses of sufficient scale.
Bessent confirmed the stranded Iranian crude — originally heading toward Chinese buyers — as a near-term supply source that could be activated through a targeted temporary waiver. He estimated the supply would provide approximately two weeks of market relief during the critical phase of the US campaign to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The Treasury’s deployment plan draws on a successful precedent from a waiver for Russian oil that contributed approximately 130 million barrels to world supply. An additional unilateral US Strategic Petroleum Reserve release beyond the G7’s 400 million barrel joint commitment is also being prepared, while the administration maintains its firm opposition to financial oil market intervention.
Experts and analysts raised significant concerns about the deployment’s strategic implications. Compliance professionals and national security specialists warned that enabling Iranian oil revenues, regardless of the waiver’s narrow scope, would provide the Tehran regime with financial resources for military activities and proxy support. Critics described the deployment as a tactical response to an intensifying crisis that carries strategic risks disproportionate to the brief market benefit it would achieve.