The White House is looking to lift sanctions on Iranian oil to curb rising oil prices, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday.
The unusual move comes as the price of oil has spiked in recent days, adding pressure on the White House to justify the war to consumers whose gas prices have begun to soar.
“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. So, we have lots of levers,” Bessent said.
He added that the administration wanted to free up about 140 million barrels of Iranian oil currently out at sea. The U.S. may also release more oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the coming days, Bessent said, though he ruled out intervening in oil futures markets.
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The war with Iran has halted the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, causing upward pressure on oil prices in recent weeks. The cost of a barrel has stayed near $100 since the U.S. attacked Iran three weeks ago, near its 52-week high.
American consumers have watched gas prices tick up as a result, and Iran has stood to profit from the rise.
The White House has taken several measures to rein in oil prices. It released oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, lifted sanctions on Russian and Venezuelan crude and temporarily waived the Jones Act, which requires all goods transported between U.S. ports to be carried on U.S.-owned ships.
President Donald Trump has waffled on whether he wants support from allies to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has asked several countries to help secure the strait, but then said earlier this week that the U.S. did not “need or desire” help from its allies.
He also denied reports that the U.S. was preparing to deploy additional troops to the Middle East to assist with the conflict, telling reporters at the White House on Thursday: “I’m not putting troops anywhere.”
The White House considers the war’s economic toll a temporary pain as it accomplishes its larger goals in the region. Trump added during his remarks to reporters that the U.S. would do “whatever is necessary” to rein in oil prices.
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