Trump admin announces $20 billion reinsurance program for oil tankers during Iran war

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNBC

Published Fri, Mar 6 2026 2:00 PM EST Updated 2 Min Ago


The Trump administration on Friday announced a $20 billion reinsurance program for oil tankers and other maritime traffic in an effort to get vessels moving through the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. crude oil prices have surged more than 12% Friday, toppping $90 per barrel as tanker traffic in the Persian Gulf remains at a standstill due to the Iran war. Some Gulf countries have started cutting production because they cannot export their crude through the Strait.

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation will insure losses up to $20 billion on a rolling basis. The DFC and Treasury Department said they are closely cooperating with U.S. Central Command to implement the plan. “We are confident that our reinsurance plan will get oil, gasoline, LNG, jet fuel, and fertilizer through the Strait of Hormuz and flowing again to the world,” DFC CEO Ben Black said in a statement.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. would offer insurance to commercial vessels in the Persian Gulf and U.S. Navy escorts if necessary. Several oil tankers have come under attack since the U.S. and Israel launched a massive wave of airstrikes against Iran last weekend.

Insurance is not the main problem for ship owners right now, said Matt Wright, senior freight analyst at consulting firm Kpler. Tanker are not moving through the Strait because they are worried about their physical security, Wright said.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/06/trump-reinsurance-oil-iran-war.html

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Article updated.

Original article -

Published Fri, Mar 6 2026 2:00 PM EST Updated 2 Min Ago


The Trump administration on Friday announced a $20 billion reinsurance program for oil tankers and other maritime traffic in an effort to get vessels moving through the Strait of Hormuz.


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[FSogol]

1. Paid for by US Taxpayers? Wouldn't it have been eaiser to not help Israel bomb Iran?

[RockRaven]

2. Any company would be foolish to take that risk based on the word of this admin.

[uncle ray]

3. i just want health COVERAGE i can afford.

[vanessa_ca]

4. So many billions. So little healthcare. -eom

[mahina]

17. DUzy!!!!!

🎯

[D. Spaulding]

5. Another case of him

allocating funds without Congressional approval?

[AllyCat]

6. Let me guess. We are paying for it.

[alwaysinasnit]

7. TSF is very generous with taxpayer money.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Trump assumes they care about the lives of their employees as little as he does

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation will insure losses up to $20 billion on a rolling basis. The DFC and Treasury Department said they are closely cooperating with U.S. Central Command to implement the plan.

“We are confident that our reinsurance plan will get oil, gasoline, LNG, jet fuel, and fertilizer through the Strait of Hormuz and flowing again to the world,” DFC CEO Ben Black said in a statement.
...
Insurance is not the main problem for ship owners right now, said Matt Wright, senior freight analyst at consulting firm Kpler. Tanker are not moving through the Strait because they are worried about their physical security, Wright said.

“There needs to be some confidence that Iran’s ability to continue to wage war has diminished,” Wright told CNBC.

That Ben Black is the son of Leon Black, the obscenely-rich Epstein friend and accused rapist:

Black had a friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. For Epstein's 50th birthday greeting album that was compiled in 2003 by Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell, Black contributed a "handwritten poem with a rhyme scheme" which included the acronym "V.F.P.C." which stood for "Vanity Fair Poster Child". This was in reference to a profile of Epstein that was being written for the magazine.[33] The poem contained the lines "Blonde, Red or Brunette, spread out geographically/With this net of fish, Jeff’s now The Old Man and The Sea". He signed the poem "Love and kisses, Leon".[33]
...
In 1997, he made Epstein one of the original trustees of what is today the Debra and Leon Black Foundation.[43] In his 2020 letter to Apollo investors, Black said that Epstein provided him with "estate planning, tax and philanthropic advice" to his "family partnership and other related family entities".[44] The New York Times reported that Black had paid Epstein at least $50 million for such services from 2012 to 2017.[43] Black did not at the time confirm the $50 million sum reported by The New York Times, but did say that he paid Epstein "millions of dollars annually for his work".[45] In October 2020, Black requested that the Apollo board conduct an independent review of his relationship with Epstein, and it retained the law firm Dechert LLP to do so.[46][47][48] Black has said that he "deeply regrets" his relationship with Epstein.[49]

The review conducted by Dechert LLP was released on January 25, 2021. It showed that Black had paid Epstein around $158 million from 2012 through 2017 for financial services.[50] Using Epstein's tax avoidance strategies, Black saved at least $1.3 billion in taxes.[51] Black pledged his intention to donate $200 million to women's initiatives.[52][53] In 2023, Black paid $62.5 million to the U.S. Virgin Islands to be released from claims related to Epstein.[54] In July 2023, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee made public that it was investigating Black's tax strategies and dealings with Epstein.[55]

In July 2025, Senator Ron Wyden, who sits on the Senate Finance Committee, called on the Internal Revenue Service to investigate potential tax evasion performed by Epstein for Black. Wyden accused the IRS of failing to properly audit "at least $158 million in payments that Black made to Epstein between 2012 and 2017 for complex tax-related transactions." Wyden urged the Justice Department to subpoena Epstein-related records from Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Deutsche Bank AG in regards to his financial relationship with Black.[35][46][56]

In March 2021, Guzel Ganieva claimed in a series of tweets that "I was sexually harassed and abused by [Black] for years [and ultimately] forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement under duress". Black stated that he had engaged in a consensual affair with her.[57][58] The matter has resulted in lawsuits and countersuits.[59][60] Ganieva further alleged that Black introduced her to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and tried to force her to have sex with him.[61] It was reported in 2026 that Epstein strategized with Black's attorney, Brad Karp, about Black's 2015 discussions with Ganieva that led to the non-disclosure agreement and subsequent payments to Ganieva of $100,000 per month.[62] Ganieva's lawsuit against Black was dismissed in May 2023.[63]

The law firm that represented Ganieva also represented another accuser, Cheri Pierson, who accused Black of raping her in 2002 in Jeffrey Epstein's mansion in New York City.[64] Black denied these claims.[65] Pierson discontinued her lawsuit against Black in February 2024.[66]

On July 25, 2023, a lawsuit was filed against Black, alleging that he violently raped a 16-year-old girl with autism and Down syndrome in Epstein's Manhattan townhouse in 2002.[67][68] Black's attorney called the accusations "frivolous and sanctionable".[69] In 2026, Wigdor LLP alleged that Black launched multiple strategic lawsuits against public participation against accusers and the attorneys representing them.[70]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Black#Relationship_with_Jeffrey_Epstein

[modrepub]

9. Probably Not Going To Work

Replacing transport vessels like these ain’t like replacing personal cars and trucks. These vessels literally take years to construct. You lose one of these ships you ain’t moving cargo again for years. Yea some desperate shippers with old ships may take a chance but anyone still making payments on their vessel probably is not moving until they see lots of ships making it through.

And no LNG ships are going to move. If one gets hit and has a major uncontrolled fire, its blast radius will be many miles. Would not want to be a military escort for these ships unless I was 10 miles away.

[artemisia1]

10. Insuring material losses does not equate to making ship's captains and their crews suicidal. /nt

[Bayard]

11. There is an urgency to get fertilizer through?

I thought there was a constant supply coming from the White House.

I hope the rest of our nation can see that he is playing fast and loose with taxpayer money that should be allocated for real emergencies--like food and medical care.

[James48]

12. $20 billion more added to the cost of war.

Just throw it on the credit card. Dad says we need it.

[SamuelAdams]

13. Is the insurance going to protect the ships from Iranian drones and missiles?

[Hugin]

14. It's going to take more than insurance...

The navigable portion of the strait is only a small amount of an already narrow passage. Iran has always had the plan of PHYSICALLY blocking it with sunken flaming targets as a last resort.

This has been known for decades and is the primary reason any sane administration has chosen negotiation.

To be clear, Trump screwed the pooch.

[kimbutgar]

15. Ain't going to happen

This is just another insane, demented bs he spouts that won’s happen.

[WinstonSmith4740]

16. Remember the good old days...

When we had a sane, rational, decent man as president? I long for those days so much I wonder sometimes if I imagined things that Biden did. Like this country pumping more oil than any nation in the history of the damn world.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/19/business/us-production-oil-reserves-crude
So what happened to that production level? Did that flaming idiot cut it back for his oil industry crony's profits? We all see what's happening at the pump, and it's going to get worse. I'm just not so sure we can hold out until November. And I shutter to think of what he'll do between November and when power changes in January.