The Treasury Department did not extend a sanctions waiver for Russian seaborne oil after it expired at midnight, leaving uncertainty over whether the Trump administration will reimpose the measures.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The U.S. Treasury Department allowed a sanctions waiver covering Russian seaborne oil to expire at midnight Wednesday, but President Donald Trump and administration officials did not immediately say whether the underlying sanctions would be reimposed.
The waiver had been used during the war with Iran to ease pressure on vulnerable economies facing severe energy disruptions. The Trump administration temporarily suspended enforcement of sanctions on Russian oil as global markets dealt with the effects of the Middle East conflict.
That policy may shift after Washington and Tehran reached a memorandum of understanding to end the war, a deal expected to allow more oil from the Middle East to reach global markets.
Trump was noncommittal Wednesday when asked whether the United States would reimpose sanctions on Russia.
“We are looking at that. We’re seeing how far the price of oil comes down, it’s really tumbling,” Trump told reporters during the G7 summit in France.
The president had suggested Tuesday that the United States could soon allow the sanctions to take effect again by ending the waiver.
“Soon we’ll be able to do that, because the oil is now flowing,” Trump said, referring to Middle East oil supplies.
The Trump administration last year imposed sanctions on Russian oil majors Rosneft and Lukoil as part of an effort to pressure Moscow to end its war in Ukraine by reducing Russian oil revenue. Russia remains one of the world’s largest oil exporters, alongside the United States and Saudi Arabia.
The Treasury Department did not publish an extension before the waiver expired. In recent months, the United States has previously allowed the waiver to lapse before extending it days later.
The White House and the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A senior U.S. official said Tuesday that Tehran can begin selling oil immediately after a signing ceremony expected later this week for the Iran agreement. However, restoring oil and gas flows to normal levels could take months.
International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol has said the Iran war caused the largest disruption to global energy markets in history.
Russian officials have argued that the U.S. waiver helped stabilize energy markets during the crisis. Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy, said June 4 that U.S. officials understood the role the waivers played in market stability. Dmitriev had been involved in talks with the United States on previous extensions.
The question of Russian oil sanctions also comes as U.S. diplomacy with Moscow continues. The Kremlin said Sunday that U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who have led U.S.-brokered negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, will visit Russia soon.
For now, the expiration of the waiver leaves uncertainty over whether Russian oil sanctions will resume immediately, be delayed again, or become part of broader negotiations involving energy markets and the war in Ukraine.
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