Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent proposed Iranian crude oil as a stopgap measure Thursday, revealing the administration is considering temporarily lifting sanctions on approximately 140 million barrels of Iranian crude stranded on tankers as a way to manage global oil markets while the Strait of Hormuz crisis continues. Bessent said the stopgap would provide roughly two weeks of supply relief at prices above $100 per barrel.
The Hormuz crisis has been creating a daily oil supply stopgap of its own — a gap of between 10 and 14 million barrels per day that has persisted for close to two weeks. The resulting price surge has created economic hardship worldwide and has forced the administration to seek stopgap supply measures of sufficient scale to provide meaningful relief.
Bessent said the Iranian crude on tankers, originally heading toward Chinese buyers, represents the best available near-term stopgap. A targeted temporary waiver could redirect this oil to global markets, providing supply support during the US campaign to resolve the Hormuz standoff, after which normal supply patterns might be expected to resume.
The Treasury has previously deployed comparable stopgaps, including a waiver for Russian oil that contributed approximately 130 million barrels to world supply. An additional unilateral US Strategic Petroleum Reserve release beyond the G7’s 400 million barrel joint commitment is also being prepared, alongside the administration’s firm opposition to financial market intervention.
Independent experts questioned both the stopgap’s effectiveness and its strategic cost. Compliance professionals and national security analysts warned that using Iranian crude as a stopgap would generate revenues for the Tehran regime that could fund military activities and proxy support, potentially prolonging the very crisis the stopgap is meant to manage. Critics described the measure as a stopgap that may create as many problems as it solves.