US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration is considering lifting sanctions on Russian oil to offset supply disruptions caused by the military operation against Iran, he said in an interview with Fox Business.
The Treasury Department issued India a 30-day sanctions waiver this week, permitting New Delhi to purchase Russian crude and petroleum products loaded onto vessels before 5 March, provided they are delivered to India and purchased by an Indian firm.
Bessent suggested the move could be extended further. "We can lift sanctions on other Russian oil. There are hundreds of millions of barrels of sanctioned oil on the water, and essentially by lifting sanctions, the Treasury can create supply — and we are looking at this option," he said.
The announcement follows a deal struck in February, in which President Trump dropped an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods in exchange for New Delhi reportedly committing to halt direct and indirect imports of Russian oil. The new waiver effectively walks that arrangement back, at least temporarily.
Traders in India and China have reportedly shown growing interest in Russian oil amid fears of supply disruptions from the Middle East, according to media reports.
The potential reversal comes less than six months after the Trump administration imposed what Bessent himself described as "some of the largest sanctions" the United States had ever applied against Russia — targeting Lukoil and Rosneft, two of the country's biggest energy companies, along with a number of their subsidiaries, in October 2025.
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