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The United States has temporarily waived sanctions on Russian oil stranded at sea as Trump administration officials attempt to reverse a surge in prices that is causing mounting apprehension about global supplies, The Guardian reported. 

Scott Bessent, the US Treasury secretary, announced a “temporary authorization” late on Thursday, allowing countries to buy the stranded Russian oil for 30 days. Trump is “working to keep prices low”, he said, after average US fuel prices rose by 65 cents per gallon in a month.

“This narrowly tailored, short-term measure applies only to oil already in transit and will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government, which derives the majority of its energy revenue from taxes assessed at the point of extraction,” Bessent claimed, according to The Guardian. 

The U.S. and Western allies clashed with Russia and China ​on Thursday over Iran's nuclear intentions, as Washington sought at the United Nations to further justify the war it launched on Iran two weeks ago, Reuters reported. 

At a meeting of the 15-member U.N. Security Council, which is chaired this month by the U.S., Russia and China moved unsuccessfully to block a discussion about a committee established to oversee and enforce U.N. sanctions on Iran. They were overruled 11-2 with two ​abstentions.

Addressing the council, U.S. envoy to the United Nations Mike Waltz accused Moscow and Beijing of seeking to protect ​Tehran by blocking the work of the so-called 1737 Committee, according to Reuters. 

A U.S. military refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on ​Thursday, in an incident U.S. Central Command said involved another aircraft but was not the result of hostile or ​friendly fire, Reuters reported. 

The United States has ​surged a large number of aircraft ⁠into the Middle East to take ​part in operations against Iran.

In a ​statement, U.S. Central Command said it was carrying out rescue efforts after the U.S. KC-135 ​refueling aircraft went down. The second ​aircraft landed safely, according to Reuters. 

Israeli airstrikes hit two buildings in the heart of Beirut near ​the Lebanese government's headquarters on Thursday, ramping up Israel's offensive against Iran-backed Hezbollah and dragging Lebanon deeper into the Middle East war, Reuters reported. 

A day after Iran-backed Hezbollah launched its biggest rocket salvo of the conflict, Israel's defence minister said the military had orders to expand the campaign and Israel's military chief said the operation in Lebanon would not be short.

Israel has pounded Lebanon's south and east and the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, killing nearly 700 people, according to Lebanese authorities. It has also ordered mass evacuations in those same areas, prompting more than 800,000 people to flee their homes, according to Reuters.