State Department tells Americans worldwide to 'exercise increased caution'

In the latest effort to ease spiking oil prices, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the U.S. might lift sanctions on Iranian oil that's already out at sea.

"In the coming days, we may unsanction the Iranian oil that's on the water. It's about 140 million barrels," Bessent said in an interview Thursday on Fox Business.

This would be a major reversal in U.S. policy, which has sanctioned Iranian oil for decades. And, in the middle of the war, it would mean Iran stands to make more money by selling its oil to the highest bidder.

Analysts say Iran has actually increased its own volume of oil exports since the start of the war, because Iranian tankers have been able to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

Bessent said the Iranian oil would have been going to China. He suggested the sanctions waiver would reduce oil prices because it could go elsewhere and add more global supply to the market. ABC News has asked the Treasury Department for more clarity on how exactly that would work.

"In essence, we will be using the Iranian barrels against the Iranians to keep the price down for the next 10 or or 14 days as we continue this campaign. So we have, we have lots of levers. We've got plenty more that we can do," Bessent added.

-ABC News' Elizabeth Schulze and Michelle Stoddart

A U.S. F-35 fighter jet had to make an emergency landing in the Middle East just before midnight on Wednesday while flying a combat mission over Iran, according to Capt. Tim Hawkins, a Centcom spokesperson.

The aircraft landed safely at a U.S. base in the region and the pilot is in stable condition. It’s unclear if the stealth fighter was hit by Iranian fire.

This was first reported by CNN.

-ABC News' Steven Beynon

Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Thursday that Iran’s response to attacks on its infrastructure has so far reflected only a “fraction” of its full capabilities.

He added that Iran’s restraint was intended to "respect requested de-escalation," but cautioned that if such attacks continue, Tehran would no longer hold back.

"ZERO restraint if our infrastructures are struck again. Any end to this war must address damage to our civilian sites," Araghchi wrote in a post on X.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that it struck a river crossing in southern Lebanon on Thursday, after video widely circulated on social media purportedly shows the Israeli strike hitting just meters away from British journalist Steve Sweeney, a Beirut-based correspondent for state-run Russia Today, while he was was speaking on camera.

RT's editor-in-chef, Margarita Simonyan, who shared the video online, said in social media posts that Sweeney and his cameraman were wounded in the Israeli strike and are both conscious in a hospital.

Simonyan said an IDF aircraft fired on the car carrying the two journalists as they were crossing a bridge in southern Lebanon.

"War journalists are not legitimate targets," Simonyan wrote in a post on X on Thursday.

The IDF said it has targeted Litani River crossings in recent days "that Hezbollah used for both terrorist movement and to transfer thousands of weapons."

"In footage released in the past few hours, a journalist is seen at the 'Qasmiya' crossing," the IDF added in its statement. "An explicit warning had been issued regarding this area. The crossing was struck after sufficient time had passed since warnings."

"The IDF calls on the residents of Lebanon to heed the warnings published on various platforms," the IDF said. "The IDF does not target civilians or journalists and operates in accordance with international law."