State Department tells Americans worldwide to 'exercise increased caution'

Energy Secretary Chris Wright elaborated on the possibility of the U.S. lifting sanctions on Iranian oil already out at sea, dismissing concerns of Iran profiting from the move by arguing that the oil was “going to be monetized anyway," in a Fox News appearance Friday morning,

Asked how the administration justifies Iran monetizing oil amid the ongoing conflict. Wright insisted that the oil would have been “monetized other ways,” regardless of U.S. potentially lifting sanctions, and he echoed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s comments on Thursday that suggested Iranian oil would have been going to China.

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.

Bessent floated the possibility of this move on Fox Thursday.

Regarding the expected timeline of unsanctioned oil becoming usable supply, Wright was confident that this would happen “pretty quickly.”

“Well, with un-sanctioning, I mean within days, within three or four days that oil will start to arrive in ports and of course most refineries are near ports. So pretty quickly,” he said.

Wright also said he believes most of the unsanctioned oil would “be absorbed in the next 30 to 45 days.”

Asked about some projections that predict oil to rise beyond $180 a barrel if disruptions persist until late next month, Wright pivoted to slam the Iran’s retaliatory attacks, saying “this destruction certainly is not helpful for global oil prices” before arguing that that this further justifies the need for the U.S. military to “finish the job.”

-ABC News' Emily Chang

The Israeli Defense Forces said Friday that it has killed Esmail Ahmadi, the head of intelligence for Iran's Basij paramilitary force.

The IDF claims Ahmadi was eliminated in the same strike carried out earlier this week that killed several other senior leadership of the Basij, including its top commander, Gholamreza Soleimani.

No immediate comment/confirmation from Iran.

-ABC News' Dorit Long

The International Energy Agency has released “a range of demand-side actions that governments, businesses and households can take to alleviate the economic impacts on consumers of the disruptions to oil markets stemming from the war in the Middle East," in a new report released Friday.

Top of the list was working from home. Other recommendations include reducing car travel, cutting down on business air travel and cooking with electricity rather than gas.

Last week, the IEA announced the release of 400 million barrels of oil and refined products from global stockpiles to ease shortages around the world, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said represented only 20% of its reserves.

“We still have 80% in our pocket,” Birol said in a statement, adding that he had held talks with Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Norway and other countries about increasing their oil and gas production.

But, he said, such flows would not solve the loss of Middle Eastern energy.

“The single most important action is the resumption of transits through the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.

President Donald Trump is again blasting America's NATO allies, calling them "COWARDS" and criticizing them for not helping keep the Strait of Hormuz open amid the war in Iran, in a social media post Friday.

"Now that fight is Militarily WON, with very little danger for them, they complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices," Trump said in the post.

The president added that it would be easy for European allies to do and "with so little risk."

"COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!" Trump said.

The post comes after Trump called repeatedly on allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Many European and other allies have rebuffed Trump's call to action. On Monday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's spokesman said that this is "not NATO's war."

While the president publicly requests help, he also repeatedly says that the U.S. doesn't need the help of their allies.

"We're the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far in the world. We don't need them. But it's interesting," Trump said on Monday.

-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart and Emily Chang