The Trump administration announced a $20 billion reinsurance program aimed at reviving shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, where traffic has all but stopped amid the US and Israeli attacks on Iran.

The U.S. International Development Finance Corp. said it is deploying maritime reinsurance, including war risk, in the Persian Gulf region to stabilize commerce. The facility will insure losses up to about $20 billion “on a rolling basis” and will apply only to vessels for now, according to a statement.

The announcement Friday  comes days after President Donald Trump ordered DFC to offer insurance “at a very reasonable price” to ensure the flow of energy and other commercial trade in the Gulf as oil prices soar. His comments came after some governments, including the U.S., had suggested insurance availability was blocking transit. Trump also said the U.S. military may escort ships in the Strait but no plans have yet been announced.

The strait carries about a fifth of global oil flows, as well as gas, fertilizer and other products. Iran has threatened to strike vessels seeking to transit the waterway, fueling a surge in prices for oil and other fuels.

“DFC and Treasury are coordinating closely with CENTCOM on next steps in the implementation of this plan,” the development agency said, referring to the U.S. military’s Central Command.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday  there’s currently a “fear premium in the marketplace” but sought to assure Americans that surging fuel prices are a short-term problem.

“We never know exactly the timeframe of this,” Wright said in an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union. “But in the worst case, this is a weeks, this is not a months thing.”

The administration also defended a waiver allowing the sale of Russian oil to India  waiver is motivated by pragmatism.

The move, which temporarily gives Russia a stream of revenue to fund its war against Ukraine that the U.S. only recently managed to cut off, -comes even as Moscow is reportedly sharing information with Iran that could help it target U.S. troops and assets in the Mideast.

Wright said the Russian oil being sold to India had been expected to go to Chinese refineries but had been idling at sea.

“Instead of having it wait six weeks to unload there, let’s just pull that oil forward, have it land at Indian refineries and tamp this fear of shortage of oil, tamp the price spikes and the concerns we see in the marketplace,” Wright said.

Ambassador Mike Waltz, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “it was kind of common sense” to let the oil on idling ships go to India.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a Sunday appearance on Fox News called rising oil prices “a short-term disruption” that will benefit consumers in the long term.

“But ultimately taking out the rogue Iranian regime is going to be a good thing for the oil industry,” Leavitt added. “And those prices are going to come back down just like they have over the course of the past year, because of President Trump’s American energy dominance agenda.”

Insurers have expressed interest in partnering with DFC to offer the reinsurance, according to an agency official. The structure of the program reflected extensive conversations the agency had with insurers, the official said.

Private insurance offerings alone haven’t been enough to entice ships and their crews to travel through the Hormuz strait, with shipowners saying safety concerns around sending crews into a war zone are the main issue.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)