With consumer energy costs soaring as a result of Iran’s Hormuz blockade, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent proposed Thursday that the US temporarily lift sanctions on Iranian crude oil stranded on tankers in international waters. Bessent said the measure would add critical supply to global markets and help bring down prices that have exceeded $100 per barrel, providing relief to consumers bearing the economic burden of the blockade.
Iran’s Hormuz closure has removed between 10 and 14 million barrels of daily supply from global markets for close to two weeks, driving up not just crude prices but consumer costs across transportation, heating, and manufacturing sectors worldwide. The sustained price elevation has placed significant economic strain on households and businesses in oil-importing countries.
Bessent confirmed approximately 140 million barrels of Iranian crude are stranded on tankers in international waters, oil originally bound for Chinese ports. A targeted temporary waiver could redirect this oil to global buyers and provide roughly two weeks of supply relief, during which the US campaign to force Iran to reopen the strait would continue to develop.
The Treasury has previously provided supply relief through a comparable waiver for Russian oil that added approximately 130 million barrels to world markets. An additional unilateral US Strategic Petroleum Reserve release beyond the G7’s 400 million barrel joint commitment is also in development, with the administration ruling out any financial market intervention.
Compliance experts and national security analysts qualified the consumer relief argument. They warned that enabling Iranian oil revenues — however compelling the consumer relief rationale — would provide the Tehran regime with financial resources for military activities and proxy support. Critics argued that the consumer relief framing, while politically powerful, does not change the strategic reality that any waiver of Iranian oil sanctions provides a financial benefit to an active adversary.