Manchin Warns of The Historic Rise of US Debt As Iran War Drags On

Former Senator Joe Manchin said continued attempts in Congress to use party-line votes to pass spending legislation in Congress part of the reason the federal debt is ballooning. He joined Bloomberg's Balance of Power to discuss. The Trump administration will allow a waiver temporarily authorizing the purchase of certain Iranian crude oil to expire this weekend.

“The short-term authorization permitting the sale of Iranian oil already stranded at sea is set to expire in a few days and will not be renewed,” the US Treasury Department said in a social-media post Tuesday, adding that it intended to use other levers available to keep up pressure on Iran.

“Financial institutions should be on notice that the department is leveraging the full range of available tools and authorities and is prepared to deploy secondary sanctions against foreign financial institutions that continue to support Iran’s activities,” the department added.

The move comes as the US imposes a blockade on traffic through the Strait of Hormuz after peace talks last weekend failed to yield a breakthrough. The waiver, which the Treasury Department published on March 20, is due to lapse on Sunday. The waiver was limited to Iranian oil and petrochemical products that were already loaded onto tankers.

The administration already let lapse a similar waiver that authorized the purchases of some otherwise-sanctioned Russian crude.

Reuters reported earlier on the decision. The US and Israeli war against Iran has set off a global energy shock and the administration has looked for ways to ease prices. But President Donald Trump’s administration had come under criticism for relaxing sanctions on oil from Iran and Russia amid the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.

“Treasury is moving aggressively with Economic Fury, maintaining maximum pressure on Iran,” the department said.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright earlier Tuesday alluded to the possibility the US would pull other levers to tighten economic pressure on the regime in Tehran.

While the blockade is one way “to bring this conflict to an end,” Wright said on Fox News, “there could be other sources of economic pressure as well.”

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