Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted Sunday that Iran will complete its remaining oil shipments to China within two weeks, leaving Tehran with “nothing left to trade for anything” as the Trump administration intensifies its economic pressure campaign against the regime.
Bessent said only about 15 million barrels of Iranian oil remain out for delivery now that the U.S. is blockading the ports, describing the dwindling shipments as evidence that Operation Economic Outcast has left Tehran economically isolated.
“They will have nothing to trade for anything, 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 said.
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The Treasury chief said he believed Iran was “feeling the pressure,” leading to their renewed interest in striking a deal. President Donald Trump rejected Tehran’s latest proposal on Saturday, telling Axios on Sunday that “they overplayed their hand.”
“I expect more talks with Iran [this week],” Trump told the outlet during a phone interview. “They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make. It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago. They overplayed their hand.”
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Tehran had offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a highly trafficked waterway in the region that is critical to global oil shipping. Bessent said it’s already open.
“We’re averaging now 15 to 22 million barrels a day. It was at about 20 pre-conflict . . . So think of it this way, Larry,” he said. “The score is the United States, one billion — more than one billion barrels have gotten out — Iran, zero.”
The point of Operation Economic Outcast is to ensure that Iran adheres to the terms of a potential future deal, Bessent added.
“They are isolated from the world. They’re 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 [Memorandum of Understanding]. And, next time, if there is a deal — that’s at President Trump’s discretion — that they will stick to it, because they are on their knees.”
Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
