The United States has announced the temporary lifting of sanctions on the sale of Iranian oil stranded at sea in an effort to cool down soaring global crude prices. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the temporary measure will make available 140 million barrels of Iranian oil to global markets. "This temporary, short-term authorisation is strictly limited to oil that is already in transit and does not allow new purchases or production," Bessent said in a long post on X. The price of Brent crude has witnessed sharp swings from roughly USD 70 per barrel before the war began to as high as USD 119.50 this week.

"Today, the Department of the Treasury is issuing a narrowly tailored, short-term authorisation permitting the sale of Iranian oil currently stranded at sea," Bessent said. The US official claimed that at present, sanctioned Iranian oil is being hoarded by China on the cheap. By temporarily unlocking this existing supply for the world, the United States will quickly bring approximately 140 million barrels of oil to global markets, expanding the amount of worldwide energy and helping to relieve the temporary pressures on supply caused by Iran, he said.