Desperate to rein in oil prices as they broke $119 a barrel early this morning, the Trump administration teased new plans to free up additional supply.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business his department may soon lift sanctions on “about 140 million barrels” of Iranian oil already in transit. He also floated another release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as one of “lots of levers” officials can pull.
In a meeting between oil executives and Vice President JD Vance, officials took one option off the table: restrictions on US oil and gas exports, which experts have said could wind up boosting costs instead of lowering them.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, told reporters the oil news isn’t so bad; he “thought the numbers would be worse.”