Bessent Says Iran Oil Exports Will Hit Zero in Weeks

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Iran's oil exports will fall to zero within the next two weeks, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday, crediting Washington's toughest sanctions campaign to date with pushing Tehran toward economic and military collapse.

In an interview with Fox News, Bessent laid out the Trump administration's strategy for squeezing Tehran's economic capacity, saying only about 15 million barrels of Iranian oil currently remain at sea awaiting delivery.

Bessent said: "Within the next two weeks, Iran will deliver its last shipment of oil to China, and after that there will be nothing left to sell, exports will fall to zero entirely. We have imposed the greatest sanctions in history on Iranian oil, like a steel wall across the Strait of Hormuz.

We will not allow a single drop of their oil out, even as 15 million to 22 million barrels of other countries' oil pass through that same strait every day. The result is clear: America, one billion barrels. Iran, zero."

Bessent said the military and economic campaign against Iran had destroyed 85% to 90% of the country's missile and drone manufacturing plants.

He added that three major Iranian banks and the entirety of the country's airlines had been cut off from the international financial and aviation systems, and that strict monitoring had been placed on digital currencies.

He pointed to Iran's fuel shortages as evidence of the sanctions' reach, saying: "It's remarkable that Iran holds the third-largest energy wealth in the world, yet because of our sanctions its stations have gone idle and it's forced to import gasoline from abroad, to the point that people inside Iran are now standing in long lines for fuel."

Bessent said the pressure had left Tehran seeking an agreement and pushing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but added that any deal would happen strictly on Washington's terms: "Iran is on its knees. Any agreement reached in the future will only come by the decision, and on the conditions, that Trump sets."

The remarks came alongside a warning that the US would send delegations to other countries urging them to halt trade with Tehran, a threat that drew a sharp response from Iran's deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi.

Writing on the social media platform X, Gharibabadi said: "Bessent talks about sending teams to countries to order them to cut their economic ties with Iran, as if the world were their private yard. Independent states shape their relations with Tehran based on their own national interests, not by order of the US Treasury. The era of imposing will through threat and punishment has come to an end."

Neither side signaled any near-term shift in position, leaving the standoff over Iran's oil exports and the Strait of Hormuz unresolved as Washington's latest sanctions deadline approaches.