Trump administration officials on Sunday defended a decision to temporarily lift some sanctions on Russian oil and predicted that a sharp increase in gasoline prices resulting from the Iran war would last only weeks.
Appearing on multiple TV talk shows, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said a waiver issued last week to allow Indian purchases of Russian oil would alleviate pressure on the global market.
"It's a 30-day pause to allow, which is just kind of common sense, to allow the millions and millions of barrels of oil that are sitting out on ships to go to Indian refineries," Waltz said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Wright told CNN's "State of the Union" that the waiver can help, "tamp this fear of shortage of oil, tamp the price spikes and the concerns we see in the marketplace." With the war now in its second week and no end in sight, Americans are grappling with higher prices at the pump, a new complicating factor for the US economy.
As of Friday, the national average price for regular gasoline stood at $3.32 a gallon, up 11 per cent from the previous week and the highest since September 2024, according to data from the motorists group AAA. Diesel was at $4.33, up 15 per cent from a week ago, surging to the highest level since November 2023.
"Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for USA, and World, Safety and Peace," President Donald Trump wrote in a social media post on Sunday night. "ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY!"
Earlier on Sunday, Wright said there is no shortage of oil or natural gas and blamed price increases on "fear and perception" that the Iran operation will be a drawn-out affair. "But it won't be," Wright said on "Fox News Sunday," echoing Trump's prediction that the war will last weeks rather than months.
US crude futures surged more than 20 per cent in early trade on Monday, hitting their highest since July 2022, as the expanding war fuelled fears of tighter supply and prolonged disruptions to shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, criticized energy speculators.
"The oil prices have gone up because you've got a bunch of oil traders out there in their Gucci loafers, with their caramel frappuccinos who are bidding up the price," Kennedy said on "Fox News Sunday".
Political analysts say a persistent rise in gasoline prices could hurt Republicans in the November midterm elections when control of the US Congress will be at stake.
(Reporting by Katharine Jackson in Washington, Curtis Williams in Houston and Diana Jones in Chicago; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Sergio Non and Lincoln Feast.)
