Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed Thursday that an Iranian crude oil waiver is among the administration’s answers to the shipping industry’s crisis caused by Iran’s Strait of Hormuz blockade. Bessent said the potential temporary lifting of sanctions on approximately 140 million barrels of Iranian crude stranded on tankers would provide critical supply to global oil markets where prices have exceeded $100 per barrel, offering indirect relief to a shipping industry paralyzed by the blockade.
The shipping industry’s crisis has been one of the most acute dimensions of the Hormuz blockade’s economic impact. With between 10 and 14 million barrels of daily oil supply unable to transit the strait for close to two weeks, shipping companies, insurers, and cargo operators have faced extraordinary disruption, with rerouting costs, insurance premium spikes, and cargo backlogs creating severe financial stress.
Bessent confirmed the Iranian crude on tankers, originally heading toward Chinese buyers, as a supply source that could provide indirect shipping industry relief by reducing the price and supply pressure driving the broader market crisis. A targeted temporary waiver could redirect approximately 140 million barrels to global markets, providing roughly two weeks of price support while the US campaign to reopen the strait continues.
The Treasury has previously deployed comparable indirect industry relief through a waiver for Russian oil that added approximately 130 million barrels to world supply. An additional unilateral US Strategic Petroleum Reserve release beyond the G7’s 400 million barrel commitment is also being planned, alongside the administration’s clear policy against financial market intervention.
Shipping industry analysts and compliance experts offered a nuanced assessment. While welcoming any supply measure that reduces the market crisis creating pressure on their sector, shipping professionals noted that the fundamental solution to the industry’s crisis is reopening the Strait of Hormuz, not supply waivers that provide temporary price relief. Critics added that enabling Iranian oil revenues to fund military activities and proxy support could prolong the Hormuz closure and extend the shipping industry’s crisis beyond the two weeks of supply relief the Iranian crude waiver would provide.