The United States may remove sanctions from about 140 million barrels of Iranian oil on stranded tankers to help lift global supplies and reduce prices, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday.
The move would make up for the deficit caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping route for global oil.
"In the coming days, we may unsanction the Iranian oil that's on the water,” Bessent said during an interview with Fox Business Network,” Bessent said during an interview with Fox Business.
Bessent noted the amount of oil is equivalent to "10 days to two week's supply that the Iranians had been pushing out that would have all gone to China."
“In essence, we'd be using the Iranian barrels against the Iranians to keep the price down for the next 10 or 14 days, as we continue this campaign,” Bessent said, adding that the United States has “lots of levers.”
Bessent 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.
The strategy is similar to the one that the Treasury Department took to allow the sale of sanctioned Russian oil stranded in tankers, which led to the addition of 130 million barrels to global supplies.
Oil prices have remained above $100 per barrel for two weeks as Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz to shipping and attacked oil tankers.
Bessent said the United States will soon take more actions to increase oil supply, but also vowed the Treasury would "absolutely not" try to intervene in oil futures markets.
"So, to be clear, we're not intervening in the financial markets. We are supplying the physical markets,” Bessent said.
Bessent also hinted that President Donald Trump would be discussing how Japan would help the United States.