WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that the U.S. does not plan to renew a waiver allowing the purchase of Russian oil and petroleum products that are currently at sea. And, he said, a renewal of the one-time waiver for Iranian oil at sea is totally off the table.
“Not the Iranians,” Bessent told The Associated Press. "We have the blockade, and there’s no oil coming out.”
"And we think in the next two, three days, they’re going to have to start shuttering production, which will be very bad for their wells.”
Bessent's statements come as the world is on edge over the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, and global energy markets have been ensnarled by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. originally issued a waiver for Russian oil sales and petroleum products in March with the intent of stabilizing global energy markets after crude oil prices surged above $100 per barrel.
The Treasury Department renewed the waiver two days after Bessent said at the White House that he had no plans to extend the sanctions relief.
In an AP interview about the impact of the U.S.-Israeli war on the global energy market and other topics, the U.S. treasury secretary explained his previous change of heart and ruled out the notion of renewing sanctions waivers for both Russia and Iran.
Bessent said during the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings last week, “More than 10 of the most vulnerable and poorest countries came to me and said, ‘Can you help?” Bessent said.
"It was for those vulnerable and poor countries. But I wouldn’t imagine that we’d have another extension. I think the Russian oil on the water has been largely sucked up.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testifies on his agency's proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2027 at a Senate Appropriation subcommittee, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
LONDON (AP) — Police in Northern Ireland have condemned a car-bomb attack on a police station as an attempt to undermine the 1998 agreement that brought peace to the region.
The bomb, fashioned from a compressed gas cylinder, exploded as police were evacuating nearby residents in Dunmurry, on the outskirts of Belfast, on Saturday night, Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton told reporters on Sunday.
“This clearly demonstrates that what this type of device may have lacked in terms of its sophistication and scale, it more than made up for in its reckless unpredictability,” Singleton said. “For a device like this to have been deployed against police and in such proximity to the public was idiotic. It was absolute madness.”
The incident took place at about 10:30 p.m. after the attackers stopped a delivery driver, placed an improvised bomb in his vehicle and ordered him to drive to the police station, Singleton said.
Brendan Mullan, chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, said the device “was sent to kill officers and cause maximum harm in an attack which was in the heart of a residential area.”
“The people have spoken when they overwhelmingly endorsed the Good Friday Agreement” in 1998, Mullan said.
“Such acts of violence have no place in a society committed to peace. We stand united in condemnation of those responsible for this terror, and in voicing support for the work of the officers and staff of the PSNI.”
It was the second incident at a police station in recent weeks.
On March 30, police foiled a similar attack on a police station in Lurgan, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southwest of Dunmurry. Two masked men stopped a delivery driver, placed an explosive device in the trunk of his vehicle and forced him at gunpoint to take the device to the police station, according to authorities. Police carried out a controlled explosion after about 100 homes were evacuated.
The Lurgan attack was probably carried out by dissident Republican groups in a “pathetic attempt to remain relevant and provoke fear,” police said.
The Good Friday Agreement largely ended decades of violence involving Republican groups opposed to British rule and others who wanted to maintain the region’s ties to the United Kingdom. Dissident groups that oppose the peace process still carry out sporadic attacks.
Forensic investigators inspect the site of a car bomb that exploded outside Dunmurry police station in South Belfast, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
Forensic investigators inspect the site of a car bomb that exploded outside Dunmurry police station in South Belfast, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
Forensic investigators inspect the site of a car bomb that exploded outside Dunmurry police station in South Belfast, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
