Amid escalating tensions with Iran, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has stated that the U.S. government will not intervene in oil futures markets. Instead, the administration plans to focus on boosting the availability of physical crude oil to offset any supply disruptions caused by the conflict.
“We’re absolutely not doing that,” Bessent told FOX Business’ “Mornings With Maria” on Thursday, addressing concerns about potential Treasury intervention. “We’re not intervening in the financial markets. We are supplying the physical markets.”
Bessent detailed a coordinated supply response prepared by the administration to mitigate the impact of potential disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz. This includes unsanctioning Russian oil cargoes already en route, estimated at 130 million barrels, and potentially doing the same with approximately 140 million barrels of Iranian oil currently in floating storage.
“In essence, by the time we unsanctioned the floating Iranian oil, we would have intervened and we would have created about 260 million excess barrels of energy,” Bessent explained, emphasizing that this constitutes a “physical intervention” rather than a financial one.
According to Bessent, this volume could cover a temporary deficit of 10 million to 14 million barrels per day if shipping through the strait is interrupted, providing roughly three weeks of market stabilization. He also highlighted the recent approval of a 400 million-barrel coordinated Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) release and indicated that the U.S. could take unilateral action if necessary.
“The largest coordinated SPR release in history, 400 million barrels, was approved last week,” he stated. “The U.S. could unilaterally do another SPR release to keep the price down.”
Bessent framed this strategy as a way to balance pressure on Iran with the need to maintain stability in energy markets. He noted that the U.S. has avoided targeting Iranian energy infrastructure, even as military operations have intensified, with the goal of preserving supply while exerting pressure on Tehran.
“We have lots of levers,” Bessent said. “We’ve got plenty more that we can do.”
Bessent believes that increasing the global oil supply from Iran will ultimately lower prices in the U.S. He acknowledged that while the U.S. does not directly rely on Middle Eastern oil, the chokepoint at the Strait of Hormuz has indirectly strained supply and unsettled crude futures markets.
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