US Treasury secretary hints at lifting more Russian oil sanctions
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday his government was considering lifting sanctions on more Russian oil, a day after it temporarily authorized India to buy from Moscow as global oil prices surged. The US-Israel war on Iran and Tehran's retaliatory attacks across the Gulf region have upended the world's energy and transport sectors, virtually halting activity in the Strait of Hormuz. Crude soared 8.5 percent on Friday and was up nearly 30 percent for the week after President Donald Trump said only the "unconditional surrender" of Iran would end the Middle East war.
"We may unsanction other Russian oil," Bessent told Fox Business on Friday. "There are hundreds of millions of barrels of sanctioned crude on the water. And in essence, by unsanctioning them, Treasury can create a supply." Washington has insisted that the new measures are not aimed at easing restrictions on Moscow, imposed over its conduct in negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, but instead only affect supplies already in transit. "We're going to keep a cadence of announcing measures to bring relief to the market during this conflict," said Bessent, with high oil prices a pain point both domestically and for international markets.
Kremlin economic adviser Kirill Dmitriev said he was discussing the issue with the United States, posting on X that: "Western sanctions have proven detrimental to the world economy." On Thursday, the US government temporarily eased economic sanctions to allow Russian oil currently stranded at sea to be sold to India. It said the transactions, including from vessels blocked by various sanctions regimes, are authorized through the end of the day on April 3, 2026.
