The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations has scrambled to defend his boss’s decision to ease sanctions on Russian crude oil.
“The Treasury Department announced it was easing oil sanctions on Russia, which will help Russia fund its war in Ukraine, as you know. Why is the Trump Administration helping Russia in this moment?” host Kristen Welker asked on Meet the Press Sunday.
Mike Waltz, 52, immediately jumped to the defense, arguing: “I wouldn’t characterize it that way, I’ll have to push back on that premise.”
Asked “how else” he would characterize the concession, Waltz argued that the 30-day easing—which will allow select buyers to purchase the millions of barrels of Russian oil formerly stranded offshore—was “common sense.”
Waltz continued: “I laid out the tough actions that the Trump Administration has taken to reduce [Russian] revenue, but at the end of the day, this is going to be a temporary issue.
“This is going to be, it looks like, a bit of short-term pain for the long-term gain of Iran no longer being able to hold the world’s energy supplies hostage. We have taken out that capability.”
Sidestepping the potential global impact of Russia’s impending oil gold rush, Waltz concluded that Trump’s temporary easing was part of a wider plan by the president.
“It also speaks to why President Trump’s energy agenda has been so important,” Waltz said. As Welker repeatedly tried to interrupt, he pushed on: “He calls it ‘drill, baby, drill,’ this is unleashing American oil and gas, we now have it coming in from Venezuela. We have other diversified supplies for both our European and our Asian allies.
“At the end of the day, the world will be safer, stronger, and more prosperous, because President Trump has taken this action.”
Elevating Vladimir Putin’s position of power through reliance on Russian oil will not necessarily make the world “safer,” as Walz argues. Multiple sources told CBS News that Russia has been providing Iran with intelligence on U.S. military positions during the joint U.S. and Israel attacks on Iran.
When confronted with this information by 60 Minutes in a forthcoming interview, former Fox News personality and Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, “No one’s putting us in danger. We’re putting the other guys in danger—that’s our job."
Because of the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran, the Strait of Hormuz—through which around 20 percent of the world’s oil supply travels—has been increasingly inaccessible, putting Russian oil in higher demand once more.
“The longer that this conflict goes on, the world will increasingly rely on both Russian crude oil and Russian refined products,” crude oil analyst Naveen Das warned the Wall Street Journal.
