US temporarily lifts sanctions on Iranian oil already loaded onto vessels.Authorisation allows sale of crude loaded before March 20.
Decision follows similar step to allow Russian oil shipments at sea.
WASHINGTON: The US Treasury on Friday temporarily lifted sanctions on Iranian oil already loaded onto vessels, in Washington's latest step to stem a supply crisis over the Middle East war.
The authorisation allows for the delivery and sale of Iranian crude oil and other petroleum products loaded onto ships before March 20, and will last through April 19, the Treasury said in a statement.
The move by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had said Thursday was under consideration, follows a similar lifting of sanctions on Russian oil at sea.
Iran's de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 per cent of the world's oil and gas normally flows, and the numerous attacks on energy infrastructure in the Middle East, have sent crude oil prices soaring.
Bessent described the move in a statement Friday as a narrowly....
