OFAC General License 134B, authorizing Russian-origin crude delivery and sale through May 16, entered its ninth day Sunday with no narrowing amendment. [1] The text is unchanged. The contradiction it creates with the Iran sanctions architecture is also unchanged.

The paper yesterday treated the waiver as the Bessent-reversal that held. Sunday extends the timeline by a day without changing the structure. Reuters reported the extension on April 18; the AP situated it inside an active Iran-war frame. [2] [3] What has not happened is a narrowing.

The mechanical effect: Russian-origin barrels can be lifted, delivered and resold under U.S. authorization while Treasury's secondary-sanction track on Iran continues to chase Hengli's denials and Chinese corporate filings. The two policies coexist because they answer different questions — Iran is a war policy, Russia is a price policy.

Energy traders read this without difficulty. Brent's curve does not need a unified sanctions doctrine; it needs to know which barrels can move. The waiver tells them. The Iran enforcement track tells them which cannot. The contradiction is a feature, not an embarrassment, until May 16 forces another decision.

-- DARA OSEI, London