Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared on “Morning with Maria” to talk about various pressing issues, including the Iran conflict, soaring oil prices, and the overall uncertainty in the markets, particularly regarding the Federal Reserve and Jerome Powell’s future role. He emphasized that his department would not interfere with the oil futures market, despite the U.S. government’s need to address the supply disruptions arising from the conflict in Iran.
Bessent clearly stated, “We are absolutely not doing that,” when questioned about any potential Treasury intervention. Instead, he noted that the focus would be on increasing the physical crude oil supply.
During his conversation with Maria Bartiromo, he described the administration’s plans for a coordinated supply strategy to mitigate the short-term disruptions expected around the Strait of Hormuz. He mentioned that the U.S. has already initiated steps to “desanction” around 130 million barrels of Russian oil currently in transit and could apply similar measures for approximately 140 million barrels of Iranian oil stored on ships.
“Essentially, if we lift sanctions on that floating Iranian oil, we would effectively have created a surplus of about 260 million barrels of energy,” Bessent explained, underscoring the idea of a “physical intervention” as oppose to a financial one.
Bessent highlighted that these additional volumes could potentially bridge a temporary gap of about 10 to 14 million barrels per day if shipping through the Strait faced interruptions. This intervention, he suggested, might stabilize the market for roughly three weeks. He also referenced a significant coordinated release of 400 million barrels from strategic oil reserves that was approved recently, mentioning that the United States could act again unilaterally if the situation demanded it.
He pointed out, “The largest coordinated release of 400 million barrels of SPR in history was approved last week. The U.S. could also unilaterally tap into the SPR again to keep prices down.”
Bessent’s strategy seems to be about finding equilibrium—not just in the energy market but in relation to Iran as well. He noted that the U.S. has stopped attacking Iran’s energy infrastructure even as military tensions have escalated, asserting that the goal was to maintain energy supplies while simultaneously applying pressure on Iran.
“We have a lot of levers,” he said, implying that the U.S. still has various options available to address these challenges.
Ultimately, he asserted that increasing oil supply from Iran would likely help reduce prices in the U.S., explaining that while the U.S. isn’t heavily reliant on Middle Eastern oil, the geopolitical tensions evolving around the Strait of Hormuz are creating a ripple effect that unnerves the markets.
