Bessent warns Iran's economy will have 'nothing' left to trade within two weeks
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Sunday that Iran's oil exports will be reduced to nothing within two weeks, with only 15 million barrels of oil left on the water.
WASHINGTON — Iran’s economy will have “nothing” left to trade within about two weeks, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned on Sunday, as Washington’s sanctions and naval blockade choke off Tehran’s remaining oil exports.
“I am confident, given that there’s only 15 million more barrels of Iranian oil on the water, that Iran will have nothing left to trade for anything,” Bessent told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures”.
“Probably within the next two weeks, they are going to make their final deliveries of oil to China, and then they will have nothing,” he added. “It is an empty set. And I believe that they are feeling the pressure here, and that’s why they want a deal.”
Bessent, who last month announced “Operation Economic Outcast” to sever Iran’s remaining economic ties to the outside world, said the campaign was meant to force Tehran to honour any future agreement: “They are isolated from the world. They are a pariah state… They did not stick to the MOU.”
His remarks came after President Trump rejected Tehran’s seven-day ceasefire proposal, under which Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the release of roughly $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets, the lifting of the US blockade and an easing of sanctions on Iranian oil sales. Trump told reporters the terms were unacceptable.
On the strait itself, Bessent said oil traffic had rebounded: “The straits are open. We’re averaging now 15 to 22 million barrels a day… It was at about 20 [million] pre-conflict.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said his country remains willing to negotiate a deal with the US.
Sources
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