Washington songe à lever ses propres sanctions sur le pétrole iranien, en pleine guerre avec Téhéran
The United States is considering easing some sanctions targeting Iranian oil on Thursday, nearly three weeks after the country's first strikes in Iran caused prices at the pump to surge.
"In the coming days, we could lift the sanctions on Iranian oil that is currently at sea," said Finance Minister Scott Bessent, when interviewed on Fox Business.
According to him, the aim would be to use "Iranian barrels against the Iranians to keep prices low (...) while we continue this military campaign."
He did not specify how long such a relaxation of the rules might last.
A source close to the matter, who was not authorized to speak publicly, told AFP that such a détente would resemble the one announced last week on Russian oil.
New rules from Washington allow Russia to sell its oil stored on ships until early April.
The aim is to add millions of barrels to the oil market at a time when it needs them: the war in the Middle East is depriving the world of a large part of the usual hydrocarbon exports from the Gulf.
The White House also ruled out on Thursday limiting exports of oil produced on American soil.
- "Contradictory" maneuver -
Andy Lipow, an analyst at Lipow Oil Associates interviewed by AFP, said, "This shows how far the government is willing to go to relieve consumers of high petrol and diesel prices."
"It is clear that if the sanctions were lifted, this would open up the possibility for Iran to sell to some of its clients that it had decades earlier in Europe," the expert adds.
Scott Bessent asserted that approximately 140 million barrels of Iranian oil are currently stored at sea.
This should compensate for the losses suffered by the market "for ten days or two weeks", according to the minister.
"From a political point of view, this would seem very contradictory, because it would give the impression that we are allowing Iran to sell its oil even though we are at war with that country," Andy Lipow points out.
"Every dollar for Iranian oil stabilizes a regime that is fundamentally at odds with our values," German Economy and Energy Minister Katherina Reiche told the Bild newspaper.
If the United States "is doing this to change prices (...) it simply won't happen," says Philip Luck of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
The envisaged easing represents, in number of barrels, the world's consumption over less than two days.
- China wins -
In the short term, "the big winner will be China," anticipates John Kilduff, oil specialist for Again Capital.
Defying US sanctions, the country has bought the bulk of Iranian oil exports in recent years.
China could therefore have a free pass to sell these millions of barrels with Washington's approval.
According to James Knightley, an economist at ING, rather than reducing prices at the pump, the Trump administration is primarily seeking to curry favor with its partners.
"This looks a bit like a negotiating tactic aimed at rallying the Chinese to their cause, in order to strengthen the idea of a naval coalition to reopen the Strait of Hormuz," a vital passage for Gulf hydrocarbon exports, Mr. Knightley told AFP.
"The game is worth the candle" if it forces China to put pressure on Iran, he believes.
The increase in gas prices is unpopular, particularly in the United States, a country heavily reliant on cars. The US government has therefore been implementing a series of measures in recent days aimed at mitigating this increase.
On Wednesday, he announced the suspension of a centuries-old maritime transport law to facilitate oil trade and a further easing of economic sanctions against Venezuela, a country with very large hydrocarbon reserves.
He also pledged to gradually make 172 million barrels available to the market, as part of a vast plan launched by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
"We do not intervene in the financial markets, we supply the physical markets," Scott Bessent assured.
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