Trump had already signaled a shift to economic, rather than military pressure on Monday as a deal with Iran remains elusive. "We are low-keying it," Trump told Axios on Sunday. Data from the Department of Energy showed that the SPR stood below 300 million barrels last week, the lowest since January 1983. It was at about 415 million barrels before the war with Iran bean in late February and has a maximum authorized capacity of 714 million barrels. A spokesperson for the DoE told CNBC that the minimum amount needed to operate the SPR is 70 million barrels.