The Liberty Daily 
(The Epoch Times)—Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on March 19 that the United States may lift sanctions on Iranian oil currently in transit to bolster supply and stabilize energy prices.
Ongoing U.S.–Israeli military operations against Iran have limited the transportation of crude oil and natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz. While there has been some traffic activity in the narrow waterway, it has not been enough to reverse the spike in global energy markets.
But the latest measure to remove sanctions on Iranian crude stranded on tankers could free up about 140 million barrels of oil—equal to about two weeks of supply—Bessent said.
“That’s about 10 days to two weeks of supply that the Iranians had been pushing out that would have all gone to China,” Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business.
“In essence, we will 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.”
This comes one week after the White House temporarily rescinded sanctions on the sale of Russian crude that was already at sea, freeing up 130 million barrels. The exemptions will stay in place until April 11.
Bessent noted that China has been purchasing about 90 percent of sanctioned Iranian oil at a discounted price. Now that the United States might lift sanctions on crude from Tehran, that supply will reach market prices and land in markets other than China, he added.
“It can flow into Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, India—who have been good actors in this,” the senior administration official said.
Some lawmakers, including Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), argue that these actions will raise revenue for Moscow and Tehran.
“Trump is actively putting more money into the pockets of Putin and the Iranian regime, but taking away money from American families with higher gas and grocery prices,” Kim said on X shortly after Bessent’s comments. “What an absolute mess.”
Bessent has shrugged off these criticisms, noting that President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign against the regime in Tehran “brought the Iranian economy to its knees.”
Prior to the war, Iran experienced a bank failure—Ayandeh Bank, one of the country’s largest private lenders—prompting the central bank to intervene. The institution’s actions then led to massive inflation, sparking anti-government demonstrations across the country.
The White House has employed various measures to mitigate the spike in oil prices since the start of the war in Iran. These tactics included establishing a $20 billion program to provide guaranteed political risk insurance for commercial vessels and releasing 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
Trump also granted a 60-day waiver of the 1920 Jones Act, effectively allowing foreign tankers to transport American crude to domestic refineries. The century-old law requires that only U.S.-flagged ships carry cargo between U.S. ports.
But the administration has many other methods available to calm down energy markets, according to Bessent.
“So we have lots of levers, we’ve got plenty more that we can do,” Bessent said. “Some countries are going to do more; the U.S. could unilaterally do another SPR release to keep the price down.”
At the same time, one tool Washington will “absolutely not” utilize is intervening in oil futures markets, Bessent said.
“So to be clear, we’re not intervening in the financial markets,“ he stated. ”We are supplying the physical markets.”
Energy Prices
It remains uncertain when—or to what extent—businesses and consumers will experience meaningful relief.
The national average for a gallon of gasoline sits at $3.88 as of March 19, according to the American Automobile Association. This is up by about 85 cents since the start of the conflict.
Diesel—the primary fuel source in global shipping and freight—reached $5 a gallon this week for the first time since 2022.
Diesel typically gets hammered worse than gasoline, says Phil Flynn, energy strategist at The PRICE Futures Group.
“Middle East flare-ups jack up freight rates, insurance costs, and disrupt refined product flows worldwide. Diesel markets overreact to supply crunches and sudden spikes in military/logistics demand during conflicts,” Flynn said in a March 19 research note.
Meanwhile, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI)—the U.S. benchmark for oil prices—rose by about 3 percent to $99 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent, the global gauge, also jumped 3 percent to $110 overseas.
The spread between the two benchmarks is hovering near its widest since the mid‑to‑late 2010s. WTI remains anchored to U.S. fundamentals—production, inventories, and pipeline flows. Brent reflects globally traded seaborne crude and carries a far larger geopolitical risk premium.
Natural gas prices rallied by 4 percent to nearly $3.20 per million British thermal units on continued disruption to global liquefied natural gas markets.
Heating oil futures maintained their upward trajectory, rising by another 4 percent to $4.17 per gallon.
