WASHINGTON — The United States will end special exemptions that permit the purchase of Russian and Iranian oil currently in transit, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Friday.
Speaking to The Associated Press, Bessent made clear that extending the Iranian oil waiver is completely out of the question.
“Not the Iranians,” Bessent stated. “We have the blockade, and there’s no oil coming out.”
“And we think in the next two, three days, they’re going to have to start shuttering production, which will be very bad for their wells,” he added.
The announcement arrives during heightened global tensions surrounding the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, which has disrupted worldwide energy markets through the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz.
Originally, the United States granted the Russian oil waiver in March to help steady international energy markets when crude prices climbed beyond $100 per barrel.
The Treasury Department had extended this waiver just two days after Bessent previously indicated at the White House that he would not continue the sanctions relief.
During his interview with AP covering the war’s effects on global energy markets, the treasury secretary clarified his earlier position shift and definitively rejected any future sanctions relief for both nations.
Bessent explained that during recent World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings, “More than 10 of the most vulnerable and poorest countries came to me and said, ‘Can you help?’”
“It was for those vulnerable and poor countries. But I wouldn’t imagine that we’d have another extension. I think the Russian oil on the water has been largely sucked up,” he said.
