Shortly after Donald Trump launched the war with Iran, the president’s administration confronted a crisis in the energy sector that it appeared wholly unprepared to address. In early March, the Republican operation said part of its response would be to temporarily lift sanctions on Russian oil, allowing money to flow into Moscow as part of a larger effort to contain prices.

Pressed for an explanation, U.S. officials insisted that the shift would be brief and that sanctions would quickly return. And for a while, they seemed to mean it: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced in mid-April that the administration had agreed to end the policy, restoring the sanctions on Russian oil.

Days later, Team Trump extended its pause on sanctions on Russian oil shipments, making Bessent look quite foolish. This week, it happened again. Reuters reported:

U.S. Treasury Secretary ​Scott Bessent on Monday announced another 30-day extension of a sanctions waiver allowing purchases of Russian seaborne oil to aid “energy-vulnerable” countries hit by the Iran war, reversing plans ‌not to grant an extension.

Bessent said in a posting on X that the Treasury was issuing the 30-day general license after a previous waiver lapsed on Saturday. This will allow temporary access to Russian oil and petroleum products stranded on tankers without violating severe U.S. sanctions on Russian oil majors, he said.

The news was not well received among many on Capitol Hill. In a joint statement, Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts argued, “The Trump Administration is delivering another dangerous and indefensible gift to Vladimir Putin by extending sanctions relief for Russian oil yet again. Every additional dollar the Kremlin earns from this license helps Putin finance his illegal war against Ukraine and kill innocent Ukrainians. … Continuing to show weakness like this will only invite more aggression and put a just end to the war in Ukraine further away.”

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Steve Benen

Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”

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