{"id":204943,"date":"2026-03-22T04:55:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T04:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/u-s-eases-iranian-oil-sanctions-in-scramble-to-contain-energy-prices-handing-tehran-a-boost-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T04:55:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T04:55:34","slug":"u-s-eases-iranian-oil-sanctions-in-scramble-to-contain-energy-prices-handing-tehran-a-boost-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/u-s-eases-iranian-oil-sanctions-in-scramble-to-contain-energy-prices-handing-tehran-a-boost-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. eases Iranian oil sanctions in scramble to contain energy prices, handing Tehran a boost – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In a twist of wartime irony, the United States<\/a> has moved to ease sanctions on Iranian oil to cool surging energy prices, a potential boon for Tehran<\/a> as Washington scrambles to contain the economic shockwaves of its military campaign.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent<\/a> said Friday the easing of sanctions, first imposed after Iran’s 1979 revolution, <\/strong>would be \u201cnarrowly tailored\u201d and only temporary, \u201cpermitting the sale of Iranian oil currently stranded at sea.\u201d
\u201cBy temporarily unlocking this existing supply for the world, the United States will quickly bring approximately 140 million barrels of oil to global markets, expanding the amount of worldwide energy and helping to relieve the temporary pressures on supply caused by Iran,\u201d Bessent added.
About 20% of the oil that the world consumes every day travels via the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, which runs along part of Iran\u2019s coast. But since the war began at the end of February, shipping in the channel has come to a halt.
Retail gas prices have risen 93 cents per gallon and U.S. crude oil has soared more than 70% since the start of the year, as geopolitical strategy and economic reality collide.
At current prices, the amount of oil Bessent said the measures would bring to market would be worth more than $14 billion for Tehran.
Experts say his decision shines a light on a lack of strategic planning and warn that such measures are unlikely to make a difference to the wider economic pressures.
\u201cThe U.S. is funding a war against itself,\u201d Danny Citrinowicz, a senior researcher on Iran at the Institute for National Security Studies, which is affiliated with Tel Aviv University in Israel, told NBC News.
Three things Richard Engel is watching as Iran war develops
\u201cWhat we are seeing is really a flawed campaign, not in terms of operational size, but from the strategic preparation for the campaign itself,\u201d he said. \u201cThe oil price is becoming much more important than eliminating this regime in Iran.\u201d
Moritz Brake, a senior fellow at the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies, said the decision to ease sanctions on Iranian oil<\/a> \u201cpoints in the direction of an underestimation of how well Iran would be able to resist the assault and the repercussions on the global economy.\u201d
\u201cThe risks have been underestimated,\u201d he told NBC News.
The U.S. has already undertaken other efforts to boost supply, including the release of millions of barrels of oil reserves, part of a global effort from International Energy Agency member countries. Since the beginning of the month, the administration has also lifted the Jones Act, easing some shipping regulations, and has temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil as well.
Brake noted that the war in Iran was having a \u201cdouble effect\u201d on Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine<\/a>.
\u201cOn the one hand, drone attacks have gone down in Ukraine because of Iranian drones no longer being shipped to Russia.\u201d he said. \u201cAt the same time, the Russian war machine gets fueled with additional money because of rising oil prices and lifted sanctions.\u201d
Stocks sold off sharply Friday as headlines about the war weighed heavily on market sentiment, delivering the worst four-week trading period since April 2025, when the Trump administration\u2019s trade tariffs dominated the news.
Oil prices rose once again, with international (Brent) oil trading around $111, ending Friday up 8.3% for the week and 84% for the year.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said in an email to employees Friday that the company will be canceling some flights as it prepares for higher oil prices because of the war with Iran.
\u201cOur plans assume oil goes to $175\/barrel and doesn\u2019t get back down to $100\/barrel until the end of 2027,\u201d Kirby wrote. \u201cHonestly, I think there\u2019s a good chance it won\u2019t be that bad,\u201d he added, but \u201cthere isn\u2019t much downside for us to preparing for that outcome.\u201d
Kirby wrote that some less profitable flights are expected to be cut in the short term because of oil prices, like off-peak and red-eye flights. He made the comments in a message in which he said that jet fuel prices have more than doubled in the last three weeks.
\u201cIf prices stayed at this level, it would mean an extra $11B in annual expense just for jet fuel,\u201d he said. \u201cFor perspective, in United\u2019s best year ever, we made less than $5B.\u201d
Citrinowicz said that measures to ease sanctions were unlikely to change the economic reality.
\u201cEverybody knows that as long as Iran is controlling the straits, nothing will change in terms of the ability to take out the oil,\u201d he said. \u201cYou cannot beat geography.\u201d
Freddie Clayton is a freelance journalist based in London.\u00a0
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeIn a twist of wartime irony, the United States has moved to ease sanctions on Iranian oil to cool surging energy prices, a potential boon for Tehran as Washington scrambles to contain the economic shockwaves of its military campaign.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday the easing of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":204944,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-204943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}