Trump Administration Gives Iran One-Month Window to Sell Sanctioned Oil

The Trump administration granted Iran a temporary license Friday night to sell its sanctioned oil, opening a one-month window for the country to move roughly 140 million barrels that have been sitting idle on tankers at sea.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration says that volume is enough to satisfy the entire world's oil demand for about a day and a half.

Iranian oil has faced U.S. sanctions on and off for decades. The Trump administration had blocked sales of the country's crude since it pulled out of the Iran nuclear agreement in 2018. Iran has still managed to sell some of that oil to China, its biggest customer, with tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

The new waiver changes that picture by opening sales up to Western countries, rather than funneling exports exclusively to China.

However, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said existing sanctions on Iranian finances may prevent the country from actually accessing the proceeds from those sales.

Critics have raised concerns that oil revenue could help finance Iran's operations against the U.S. and its allies, making the administration's move a complicated one.