Bessent Says Trump ‘May Unsanction’ Russian Oil To Try To Bring Down Prices Amid Iran War

During a Friday appearance on Fox Business, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said President Donald Trump “may unsanction” Russian oil in an attempt to bring down skyrocketing prices amid the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran.

Speaking with Fox Business’s Larry Kudlow, Bessent was asked to comment on rising oil prices and his announcement of “an agreement on a detailed implementation plan by President Trump to deploy maritime reinsurance, including war risk in the Gulf region.”

Notably, as CNBC wrote on Friday, “U.S. crude soared 35.63% for the biggest weekly gain in the history of the futures contract dating back to 1983.”

“The world is very well supplied in oil,” said Bessent. “Yesterday, Treasury agreed to let our allies in India start buying Russian oil that was already on the water,” emphasizing that “the Indians have been very good actors” who stopped buying Russian oil upon U.S. request this past fall.

“To ease the temporary gap of oil around the world, we have given them permission to accept the Russian oil. We may unsanction other Russian oil,” he continued. “There are hundreds of millions of sanctioned barrels of crude on the water, and in essence, by unsanctioning them, Treasury can create supply. We are looking at that.”

“Once this is over, oil prices are going to be sustainably lower and in a safer position for years, if not decades to come,” Bessent concluded.

In response to Bessent’s Thursday X post announcing the temporary 30-day waiver allowing Indian refiners to buy Russian oil, Representative Don Bacon (R-NE) wrote, “I condemn this decision. The weakness towards Russia is appalling.”

Bloomberg energy and commodities columnist Javier Blas added in a Friday tweet, “Vladimir Putin can’t believe his luck.”

In a Thursday exclusive with Reuters, Trump was nonchalant about the rising prices, saying, “If they rise, they rise.”

Watch the clip above via Fox Business.

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