WASHINGTON: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that the US does not plan to renew a waiver allowing the purchase of Russian oil and petroleum products that are currently at sea. And, he said, a renewal of the one-time waiver for Iranian oil at sea is totally off the table.
“Not the Iranians,” Bessent told The Associated Press. "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.”
Bessent's statements come as the world is on edge over the US-Israeli war in Iran, and global energy markets have been ensnarled by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The US originally issued a waiver for Russian oil sales and petroleum products in March with the intent of stabilising global energy markets after crude oil prices surged above USD 100 per barrel.
The Treasury Department renewed the waiver two days after Bessent said at the White House that he had no plans to extend the sanctions relief.
In an AP interview about the impact of the US-Israeli war on the global energy market and other topics, the US treasury secretary explained his previous change of heart and ruled out the notion of renewing sanctions waivers for both Russia and Iran.
Bessent said during the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings last week, “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.”