French president Emmanuel Macron has also said that the Strait of Hormuz's shutdown "in no way" justified lifting the sanctions on Russia, while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said sanctions on Russia and its shadow fleet should be maintained. However, she refrained from criticising the US decision to ease sanctions on Russian oil, describing it as a "specific, targeted issue". A move from the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Wednesday to ease the pressure, pledging to release a record 400 million barrels of oil, including 172 million barrels contributed by the US, failed to lower the oil price. The latest move to ease sanctions is expected to affect about 100 million barrels of Russian oil, which Russia said were currently in transit. At the same time, analysts said the decision was unlikely to do much to relieve the spike in oil prices.

Source: GhanaWeb March 15, 2026 01:16 UTC