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WASHINGTON — Iran’s beleaguered economy will soon have “nothing to trade” in about two weeks after it makes its final oil deliveries, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed.
Bessent assessed that the Islamic Republic is becoming desperate to make a deal because of its collapsing economy, hastened by Operation Economic Outcast, and warned that its problems will get dramatically worse in two weeks.
“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,” Bessent added. “It is an empty set. And I believe that they are feeling the pressure here, and that’s why they want a deal.”
Since the Memorandum of Understanding with Iran collapsed in July, the US has implemented a sweeping blockade around the regime, cutting off vessels from entering or leaving the war-torn nation.
Bessent announced Operation Economic Outcast last month, in which the administration mounted an even more aggressive push to tighten the screws on the regime by targeting foreign countries and companies doing business with it.
Last week, top Iranian officials pushed for their seven-day ceasefire proposal in which they would open up the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the US unfreezing roughly $12 billion in frozen assets, lifting the blockade and easing sanctions.
But President Trump rejected that deal, telling reporters that it was not acceptable.
“The straits are open,” Bessent insisted. “We’re averaging now 15 to 22 million barrels a day… It was at about 20 [million] pre-conflict.”
Since early March, the Strait of Hormuz, where nearly one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil supplies once flowed through annually, has faced disruptions by Iran’s sporadic attacks against vessels.
But the Trump administration has claimed that the US military is escorting ships through a route close to the shores of Oman.
“They are isolated from the world,” Bessent said. “They are a pariah state. And my job is to make sure that, when they come with a deal, that they want to stick to it. They did not stick to the MOU.”
“Next time, if there is a deal, and that’s at President Trump’s discretion, they will stick to it, because they are on their knees.”
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