The Treasury Department has extended sanctions relief through mid-May amid global fuel price turmoil tied to the Iran war.
The Trump administration renewed a key sanctions waiver on April 17, allowing countries to purchase Russian oil stranded at sea, responding to urgent pressure from Asian nations battered by skyrocketing energy costs.
The move also reverses a position Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had stated two days earlier.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General License 134B on Friday, authorizing transactions tied to Russian crude and petroleum products loaded onto vessels as of that date.
The waiver runs through May 16 and replaces a previous license that expired on April 11.
The move comes after Bessent told reporters on Wednesday the administration would not extend the earlier waiver, signaling what appeared to be a firmer stance on Russian energy exports.
“As negotiations [with Iran] accelerate, Treasury wants to ensure oil is available to those who need it,” a Treasury spokesperson said.
The Russia-related license waiver excludes transactions to Iran, Cuba, and North Korea.
Global oil prices tumbled 9 percent on Friday to about $90 a barrel after Iran temporarily reopened the Strait of Hormuz, an oil choke point in the Gulf.
Narendra Modi, a major purchaser of Russian crude.
The ongoing war in Iran has cost New Delhi access to approximately 3 million barrels per day that previously transited the Strait of Hormuz.
The war, which enters its eighth week on Saturday, has damaged more than 80 oil and gas facilities in the Middle East, and Tehran has warned it could close the strait again if the recent U.S. Navy blockade of Iranian ports continues.
Just before Friday’s reversal, the Treasury had declared it was moving aggressively to maintain “maximum pressure” on Iran under its “Economic Fury” campaign, and would not renew a separate waiver on Iranian oil sales.
The juxtaposition of tightening Iranian sanctions while loosening Russian oil relief underscores the competing pressures bearing on the administration’s energy policy.
Friday’s decision follows a series of energy-related policy adjustments Washington has made since U.S.–Israeli military operations against Iran began in late February.
