LONDON — The U.K. government has delayed some new sanctions on Russian oil in an effort to shelter Britons from the cost-of-living squeeze triggered by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the Iran war.
A trade license that came into effect Wednesday permits the import of Russian oil that has been refined into jet fuel and diesel in third countries such as India and Turkey.
The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and Iran’s retaliatory grip on the strait, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil usually passes, has sent fuel prices soaring around the world and sparked concerns about a shortage of jet fuel.
Opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch accused the British government of “choosing to buy dirty Russian oil.”
But Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the government is phasing in a package of sanctions announced in October and has issued a “targeted short-term” license for the refined products to protect British consumers in a volatile situation.
“So, these are new sanctions being phased in. This is not a question of lifting existing sanctions in any way whatsoever,” he said in the House of Commons.
The licenses have no end date, but the government said they would be reviewed regularly.
Britain has been one of Ukraine’s strongest allies since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, and the government insists its sanctions against Russia remain among the toughest in the world.
But lawmaker Emily Thornberry, who chairs Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said Ukrainians would “feel very let down” by the move. She said Ukraine’s allies should keep squeezing Russia’s oil industry because it “is absolutely crippling their economy.”
The U.S. has also eased Russian sanctions. Earlier this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent extended a 30-day sanctions waiver allowing the purchase of Russian oil shipments already at sea.
On Tuesday, finance ministers from the U.S., Britain and the other Group of Seven wealthy nations issued a joint statement reaffirming “our unwavering commitment to continue to impose severe costs on Russia in response to its continued aggression against Ukraine.”
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