US Says Permitting Russian Oil Sales Pragmatic Decision

JAKARTA - US Energy Minister Chris Wright said the decision to extend the license to sell Russian oil was a pragmatic humanitarian matter and that Russian energy resources were already on the global market.

"We just made a pragmatic humanitarian decision in the short term; rather than letting all the oil go to China, let some of the oil go to India. Let some of the oil go to other countries in Asia that will purify the oil, give energy to their people," Wright told Fox News, Sunday (19/4) as reported by ANTARA from Sputnik/RIA Novosti.

Wright said India exports fuel to the European Union, which is also in a state of great concern about high energy prices.

"This is a pragmatic short-term decision to allow oil that is already flowing to go in a different direction," he added.

Previously, on Saturday (18/4), the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the US Department of the Treasury issued a general license for the shipment and sale of Russian oil, thus extending the easing of US sanctions on crude oil loaded onto ships starting Friday (17/4).

Meanwhile, the US and Israel launched an attack on targets in Iran, at the end of February, causing damage and civilian casualties.

Then, Washington and Tehran announced a two-week ceasefire on April 7 and were followed by Pakistani-mediated talks in Islamabad on April 11 that ended without results.

Although there was no announcement about the resumption of hostilities, the US began to blockade Iranian ports and mediators are trying to organize a new round of talks.