The Trump administration is considering suspending sanctions against Iranian oil to ease market tensions
The United States is considering a temporary relaxation of unilaterally imposed sanctions on Iranian oil, nearly three weeks after the start of the war it launched together with Israel against Iran, a conflict that increased the price of a barrel of oil after, in retaliation, Iran restricted maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, reports AFP Thursday.
“In the coming days, we could lift sanctions on Iranian oil that is currently at sea,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
In this way, the American official believes, “Iranian barrels will be used against the Iranians themselves to keep prices at a low level (…), while we continue this military campaign”, cites AFP and Agerpres.
Scott Bessent did not specify how long such an easing of sanctions could last, which would be modeled after the temporary relaxation of sanctions against Russian oil exports announced by Washington last week, which allowed until the beginning of April to sell Russian oil already loaded on ships.
It is about sanctions imposed unilaterally by the USA against Russia and Iran. Through such punitive measures, Washington tries to prevent not only its bilateral trade with countries against which it has imposed sanctions, but also trade between the latter and third countries that the US threatens with secondary sanctions, such as customs duties or the prohibition of access to American financial and insurance systems. For example, the United States forced India, one such third country, to reduce its purchases of Russian oil after threatening it with secondary tariffs.
The practice of unilateral sanctions of this kind was also adopted by the EU against Russia, after the invasion of Ukraine.
