The Trump administration has issued a fresh one-month waiver allowing countries to purchase Russian oil and petroleum products currently loaded on vessels at sea, reversing a position stated just two days earlier by senior officials. The licence, issued by the US Treasury Department on Friday, April 17, permits the purchase of oil and petroleum products loaded onto any vessel as of that date through 12:01 am GMT on May 16. It extends an original 30-day waiver that had expired on April 11.

The move came as a notable reversal: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had told reporters on Wednesday that Washington would not renew the waiver on Russian oil — or Iranian oil. Both measures had been introduced to ease global supply shocks stemming from the ongoing US-Israeli military campaign against Iran, which prompted Tehran to retaliate by effectively closing off the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway through which a significant share of the world's energy shipments pass. Oil prices have surged as a result, squeezing energy-importing nations and pushing up US gasoline prices ahead of key midterm elections, increasing political pressure on the administration to act.

The decision nonetheless sits uneasily with broader geopolitical concerns. Any easing of restrictions on Russian oil sales risks providing Moscow with additional revenue to fund its continuing war in Ukraine — a conflict launched in 2022 that has become the deadliest in Europe since the Second World War. Following a Group of Seven finance leaders' meeting in Washington this week, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure cautioned that Russia should not benefit from the current situation in Iran, and that Ukraine should not become