Donald Trump has come under intense criticism for his decision to lift sanctions on Russian oil in an attempt to curb rising gas prices, a move that follows the ongoing conflict with Iran.

Gas prices have surged by an average of 70 cents in the last month across the United States. With the skirmish against Iran nearing the end of its third week, the upward trend in prices is expected to persist, squeezing American consumers.

On Friday morning, crude oil prices hit the $100 mark, with CNBC reporting a 9 percent rise this week. This follows a historic 27.9 percent increase the previous week, marking the steepest climb since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The escalation in prices coincides with Iran and its allies obstructing oil shipments from several Middle Eastern nations, causing bottlenecks at the vital Strait of Hormuz.

In response, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control issued a temporary waiver on Thursday evening. This waiver lifts the restrictions on purchasing Russian crude oil and petroleum products that are already en route.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent emphasized that the waiver is a ‘short-term measure,’ set to expire on April 11, aimed at fostering ‘stability in global energy markets.’

But some say the temporary waiver is putting the President in the pocket of Vladimir Putin, and others lament it’s a ‘betrayal’ to Ukraine as it entered it’s fourth year of war with Russia last month. 

A minister in the United Kingdom has rebuked the idea, saying the UK will not follow the lead in easing sanctions on Russian oil. And one social media user decried: ‘Aligning with the likes of Putin is not and never will be ‘America First.”

President Donald Trump’s Treasury Department temporary lifted sanctions on Russian oil already at sea to help ease gas prices in the US amid the ongoing war with Iran

A Callisto oil tanker sits anchored in an Oman port amid Iran and its proxies holding the Strait of Hormuz and preventing ships from moving through the bottleneck

The activity in the Hormuz Strait has caused immense global market volatility in regards to oil and fuel prices.

Any prospect that the US Navy will help escort oil tankers and cargo ships out of the Strait causes a drop in oil barrel prices, but the more news that comes out of the region’s conflict, the worse oil futures look.

Even Energy Secretary Chris Wright tweeting and quickly deleting a post on Tuesday claiming the Navy escorted a ship caused a huge drop in prices. The White House later clarified that this was incorrect and the DOE said it was a staffer who made the mistake in the post.

‘That’s not a Strait we’re going to allow to remain contested with a lack of flow of commercial goods,’ Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said at Friday morning’s press briefing.

Hegseth said that Iran continues to fire at ships trying to pass through the waterway that flows out of the Persian Gulf into the Gulf of Oman.

The US pause on sanctions will go for one month and applies to Russian oil already at sea as the Trump administration attempts to stymie the surge in gas prices in the US amid the raging war with Iran.

‘Russia’s sanctions lifted, sounds like a betrayal to the Ukrainian cause,’ one social media user bemused.

An economics professor posted to his X: ‘What a disgrace. Trump has removed sanctions on Russia’s oil. I am truly sorry to the Ukrainian people.’

‘How many Ukrainians die for this?’ another user questioned. 

Social media users claim the lifting of sanctions on Moscow’s crude oil and petroleum products is a ‘betrayal’ to Ukraine is its war with Russia

Smoke billows off a cargo vessel in the Gulf north of Dubai on March 13, 2026 as its left unable to pass through the Strait of Hormuz

New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman speculated that Trump thought the conflict with Iran would already be over and did not have a plan beyond the initial strikes should the fighting continue. 

‘It’s been very clear in everything the President has said, and he said this publicly, he thought this was going to be over by now,’ Haberman told CNN. 

‘I don’t know why he thought that, and I don’t know why there wasn’t some kind of a contingency for what we’re seeing now.’

She added: ‘There clearly is not a plan to deal with this, beyond talking about how the tankers should be tough and keep going through. And that’s — it’s not — it’s not working.’

Trump and his administration have admitted that Operation Epic Fury would result in a temporary spike in gas prices, but has assured that those costs would ease once the conflict subsides. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during her press briefing on Tuesday that fuel prices could even dip below pre-Iran war rates.

The President has assured the timeline for the conflict is between four and six weeks and claims that the operation is already ‘way ahead of schedule.’

The announcement of paused sanctions was welcomed by the Kremlin, as it’s believed Russia has approximately 100 million barrels of oil currently in transit that will no longer face US sanctions.