US may remove sanctions on Iranian oil stranded in tankers, says Bessent

WASHINGTON – The US may soon remove sanctions from Iranian oil that is stranded on tankers to help lift global supplies and reduce prices, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on March 19.

“In the coming days, we may unsanction the Iranian oil that’s on the water. It’s about 140 million barrels,” Mr Bessent told Fox Business Network’s Mornings With Maria programme.

“So, depending on how you count it, that’s 10 days to two weeks of supply,” he added.

Mr Bessent said the addition of sanctioned Iranian oil into global supplies would help keep oil prices down for the next 10 to 14 days. Oil prices have been above US$100 per barrel for much of the past two weeks as Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz to shipping and attacked tankers.

The Treasury recently took a similar step to allow the sale of sanctioned Russian oil stranded in tankers, which added 130 million barrels to global supplies.

Mr Bessent said the US would take other actions to increase supply, including a unilateral release of stocks from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve above last week’s coordinated joint Group of Seven release of 400 million barrels.

He said the Treasury would “absolutely not” try to intervene in oil futures markets, but would take actions to increase physical supplies to try to make up for the 10 million to 14 million barrels-per-day deficit caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

“So, to be clear, we’re not intervening in the financial markets. We are supplying the physical markets.”

Mr Bessent said US President Donald Trump would also speak to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the White House on March 19 about the Japanese navy taking part in securing safe passage for vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, as that is where Japan gets most of its oil.

“She’s very pro-US. I think we’re going to have a very good discussion today,” Mr Bessent said, adding that Ms Takaichi also may release more oil from Japan’s strategic petroleum reserve above its release in the joint action.

He said China had become an “unreliable” supplier of refined products, as it has stopped exporting jet fuel and other products to other countries in Asia. REUTERS