Trump Administration May Unsanction Some Iranian Oil As Energy Prices Spike, Bessent Says

The Trump administration may suspend sanctions on Iranian oil already at sea in a bid to clamp down on energy prices that have shot up amid the war in the Middle East, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday.

It’s the latest play weighed by the administration to stabilize the oil market against price shocks since the U.S. and Israel launched their joint operation in February. The maneuver could free up 140 million barrels of Iranian oil for global use, Bessent said.

“In essence, we will be using the Iranian barrels against the Iranians to keep the price down for the next 10 or 14 days, as we continue this campaign,” he said on Fox Business.

It's one of several “levers” Bessent said the administration has at its disposal, as Iranian attacks cripple the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway that carries roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply. The administration could also make more oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve available, Bessent added. The administration already started making 172 million barrels from the SPR available.

“So we have lots of levers, we've got plenty more that we can do,” Bessent said. “Some countries are going to do more, the U.S. could unilaterally do another SPR release to keep the price down.”

The White House has discussed adding up to 100 million more barrels to the administration’s pledge last week, said a person familiar with the plan who was granted anonymity to discuss conversations within the administration.

"Some military advisers are concerned [about] draining so much, and are pushing for more like 50 million barrels on the concern that further destruction of oil and gas infrastructure in the [Middle East] region could leave the country vulnerable from a reserve standpoint,” this person said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Energy — which controls the SPR — said in a statement following Bessent’s interview there were currently no plans for another release.

“The United States has taken several actions thus far to mitigate disruptions to energy markets,” DOE spokesperson Ben Dietderich said. “While the U.S. continues to consider all options to keep markets supplied, there are currently no plans for an additional SPR release."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Oil and product flows through the strait have plummeted from roughly 20 million barrels a day to just “a trickle,” the International Energy Agency reported last week, marking the largest supply disruption in history. U.S. gas prices are up by more than 85 cents per gallon from the start of the war.

Bessent called the blockade a “temporary chokepoint” and implored American allies to help secure the strait.

“They’re the ones who need this oil,” he said. “The U.S., we’re an oil exporter.”

Trump, in the meantime, has skewered American allies, oscillating between calling for their assistance to insisting on Truth Social that “WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE.”

“We are intervening in markets by creating this excess supply with oil that’s on the water,” Bessent said Thursday.