Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States is allowing Iranian oil tankers to move through the Strait of Hormuz as part of an effort to stabilize global supply and prices.
“We are seeing more and more of the fuel ships start to go through. The Iranian ships have been getting out already, and we’ve let that happen to supply the rest of the world,” Bessent said in an appearance on CNBC on Monday. “We’ve seen Indian ships go out now … we believe some Chinese ships have gone out.”
The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed, for the most part, since the U.S. and Israel carried out strikes against Iran. The strait is a significant trading route, moving nearly 20 million barrels of crude oil daily, or about a fifth of global supply. The halt on trade going through the strait has caused energy prices to soar, with the price of global benchmark Brent crude above $100 Monday.
As many ships in the strait are at a standstill, Iran has been able to move its ships through. Since the war started on Feb. 28, Iran has sent at least 11.7 million barrels of crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz to China, Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, told CNBC last week. China is a primary purchaser of Iranian oil and has expressed opposition to the war, but has not engaged in military action.
The Trump administration has taken several approaches to mitigate the high prices of oil caused by the stalemate in the strait. President Donald Trump proposed a plan to offer financial and logistical support to all shipping lanes, including escorts by the U.S. Navy.
Bessent said that he believes tankers will be able to move through the strait before any escorts are needed, adding, “We think that there will be a natural opening that the Iranians are letting out, and for now, we’re fine with that. We want the world to be well supplied.”
The administration also temporarily lifted Russian sanctions last week, providing a 30-day waiver to allow countries to buy sanctioned Russian crude.
Bessent said that by removing sanctions on Russian oil, “it can go to Malaysia, Singapore, India.” He added, “The Indians have bought quite a bit, so it can go to alleviate the shortage, because most of the oil from the Gulf does, in fact, go to Asia.”
TRUMP MAKES RISKY BET TRYING TO CONVINCE THE PUBLIC HIGHER OIL PRICES ARE GOOD
Meanwhile, as part of the broader effort to lower energy prices, the Trump administration announced plans to release 172 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, following an agreement among International Energy Agency member countries to release 400 million barrels of oil and refined products from their emergency reserves to stabilize energy markets.
