Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday said Iran’s battered economy could have “nothing” left to trade within two weeks as U.S. sanctions and a 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 said in an interview.
“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.”The Trump administration has intensified its economic campaign against Tehran since a U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding expired in August amid mutual accusations of violations, maintaining a blockade and targeting foreign companies and entities that continue doing business with the Islamic Republic. Bessent last month announced Operation Economic Outcast, a sweeping effort to sever Iran’s remaining economic ties to the outside world and increase pressure on the regime.
