Shortly after Donald Trump launched the war with Iran, the president’s administration confronted a crisis in the energy sector that it appeared wholly unprepared to address. In early March, the Republican operation said part of its response would be temporarily lifting sanctions on Russian oil, allowing money to flow into Moscow as part of a larger effort to contain prices.
Pressed for an explanation, U.S. officials insisted that the shift would be brief and that sanctions would quickly return. It was against that backdrop that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced last week that the administration had agreed to end the policy, restoring the sanctions on Russian oil.
Two days later, Team Trump made Bessent look quite foolish. The Associated Press reported:
The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday extended its pause on sanctions on Russian oil shipments to ease shortages from the Iran war, days after Secretary Scott Bessent ruled out such a move.
The so-called general license means U.S. sanctions will not apply for 30 days on deliveries of Russian oil that has been loaded on tankers as of Friday. It extended a similar 30-day license issued in March for Russian oil that had been loaded by March 11. The extension underscores how the fallout from the Iran war has boosted Moscow’s ability to profit from its energy exports, which had been restrained since the invasion of Ukraine.
Almost immediately, three top Senate Democrats — Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — issued a joint statement condemning the move as “shameful.”
“Make no mistake, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of President Trump’s war against Iran, as Russia saw oil revenues nearly double in March,” the Democratic senators said. “Enough is enough. President Trump needs to stop letting Putin play him for a fool and impose additional sanctions on Putin, who is clearly not feeling sufficient pressure from this president.”
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The political pushback was clearly warranted given the circumstances, but the Trump administration’s latest favor for the Kremlin was the latest in a recent series. The president and his team have also recently:
- Shrugged off compelling evidence that Russia has helped Iran target American assets in the Middle East
- Allowed Russia to bypass a U.S. oil blockade intended to smother the Cuban government
- Vouched for Putin’s trustworthiness
- Echoed Kremlin talking points
- Bragged about curtailing U.S. aid to Ukraine, which is still trying to defend itself in response to Russia’s invasion
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Putin “can barely conceal a smirk” as the war continues, and there’s no great mystery as to why.
It’s worth emphasizing that all of these developments have unfolded over the past couple of months, and this list doesn’t include the many steps Trump and his team took that benefited Russia in 2025, including a humiliating attempt at direct diplomacy with Putin during a failed summit in Alaska, in which the Republican slunk away empty-handed.
The next time the American president brags about how “tough” he is with Putin, be sure to keep all of this in mind.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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