US won’t renew sanctions waivers on Russian, Iranian oil, says Bessent – National
The United States will not be able to renew the waiver that allowed the purchase of oil from Iran and Russia without facing US sanctions, US Treasury Secretary Scott Besent told reporters on Wednesday.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that Washington would not renew a 30-day embargo on Iranian offshore oil that expires this week, and allowed a similar lifting of sanctions on Russian oil to expire over the weekend.
“We will not renew the general license for Russian oil, and we will not renew the general license for Iranian oil. That was the oil that was in the water before March 11. So everything has been used,” said Bessent at a White House briefing.
The moves signal the end of the Trump administration’s efforts to use sanctions waivers to free up more oil resources and rising global energy prices.
The Iranian release, issued by the Treasury Department on March 20, allowed about 140 million barrels of oil to reach global markets and helped ease pressure on wartime energy supplies, Bessent said last month. The release will expire on April 19.
Bessent said the US is now preparing to limit new purchases of Iranian oil for the second time.
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“We have told the companies, we have told the countries that if you buy Iranian oil, that if Iranian money is sitting in your banks, now we are willing to apply the second sanctions, which is a very strong measure,” he said.
He added that the measures would be the “financial equivalent” of the US military’s bombing campaign against Iran.
Bessent told NBC News last week that the Treasury’s analysis showed that the maximum amount of oil revenue that Russia could receive would be US $ 2 billion.
Critics have decried the prospect that Russia will increase profits for its war with Ukraine, which has continued to struggle despite US-led efforts to resolve it.
Pressed on that number by reporters on Wednesday, Bessent acknowledged that Russia’s additional money during the sanctions relief period “could be $2 billion, we don’t know,” but defended the move.
“Let’s think of a different world where oil went up to $150 (per US barrel) and they could do a lot by doing that, by pushing the Russian barrels that were already in the water, they were going to be sold, to China no matter what,” he said.
“To push it to our partners, help stabilize the price of oil. … There were doomsday scenarios, ‘Oil will reach $150. It will reach $200. It will reach $250.’
Brent crude oil prices have fallen from a wartime high of US$119 per barrel to more than US$90 since US President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran and efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
-With additional files from Global News
