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The U.S. Treasury has authorized the purchase of Iranian oil that’s already at sea, exempting buyers from the tight sanctions that have restricted the country’s oil industry for years — a move aimed at stemming soaring prices amid the U.S.’s war with Iran.
The sanctions license allows oil from Iran to be purchased if it was loaded onto a ship by 12:01 a.m. ET on Friday. The authorization lasts until April 19. They do not cover people located in North Korea, Cuba or the parts of Ukraine occupied by Russia.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday the move could free up around 140 million barrels of oil that otherwise would’ve been “hoarded by China on the cheap,” referring to China’s status as the largest importer of Iranian oil.
“In essence, we will be using the Iranian barrels against Tehran to keep the price down as we continue Operation Epic Fury,” Bessent said in a statement, casting it as a way of “expanding the amount of worldwide energy and helping to relieve the temporary pressures on supply caused by Iran.”
Bessent argued that Iran won’t be able to access much of the proceeds from the sales, writing that “the United States will continue to maintain maximum pressure on Iran and its ability to access the international financial system.”
But the move — which Bessent had telegraphed earlier this week — still marks a wartime loosening of President Trump’s strategy of “maximum pressure” against Iran, which dates back to his first term and consists of heavy sanctions that make it difficult to do business with wide swaths of the Iranian economy, including its energy industry.
Last week, the U.S. also greenlit the purchase of Russian oil that’s already at sea for one month, a reprieve from the intense sanctions that have hampered Russia’s economy since the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The moves are controversial. Congressional Democrats have sharply criticized the Trump administration for loosening sanctions on Russian oil, arguing the decision could deliver a windfall to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The new channels for evasion the President is opening, coupled with dramatically higher global energy prices, are giving Putin a huge financial boost and the means to continue his bloody war in Ukraine,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and several other Senate Democrats said in a joint statement earlier this month.
The Trump administration is grappling with a surge in oil prices wrought by the war with Iran. Ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula that carries some 20% of the world’s oil — has slowed to a crawl as oil tanker operators fear Iranian attacks, making it difficult for major Arab oil producers to export petroleum. But Iran has allowed its own oil exports to make their way through the Strait.
The sanction reprieves are aimed at easing oil prices by at least temporarily boosting supply. Mr. Trump has tried a few other strategies, including ordering the release of 172 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and allowing foreign ships to move oil between U.S. ports.
But so far, prices have remained near multiyear highs.
Mr. Trump has also floated offering military escorts to tankers in the the Strait of Hormuz, though on Friday, he said he wants other countries to be involved in any potential escort operation since the U.S. isn’t reliant on Middle Eastern oil.
“If asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Meanwhile, petroleum industry targets in both Iran and U.S.-allied Arab states have been struck over the course of the war. Last week, Mr. Trump ordered strikes on military targets on Kharg Island, which serves as Iran’s main oil export terminal, and threatened to strike oil-related targets there if Iran interferes with the Strait of Hormuz.
Asked by reporters Friday if he has a plan for Kharg Island, Mr. Trump said: “I can’t tell you that. Certainly a place that people are talking about, but I can’t tell you that.”
