Bessent: Iran will take in zero oil revenue this week as Tehran warns of economic crisis

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Iran will have no oil on the water and no oil revenue this week for the first time in history, as Tehran’s leaders warn of a deepening economic crisis.

Breitbart News reported that Bessent delivered the assessment Saturday on the Axios Show, tying the cutoff to a U.S. campaign of military strikes, a naval blockade, and stepped-up economic isolation.

“For the first time in history, since they started pumping oil, they will have no oil on the water this week,” Bessent said. “They will have no revenues.”

"For the first time in history, since they started pumping oil, they will have no oil on the water this week," "They will have no revenues."

He described a three-stage pressure campaign. First came what he called the kinetic phase. Then came the blockade President Trump has labeled the Iron Wall. Now comes Operation Economic Outcast.

“We had kinetic,” Bessent said. “We destroyed their navy, their air force, substantially depleted their drone and missile capability, destroyed their chances of rebuilding that.”

"We had kinetic," "We destroyed their navy, their air force, substantially depleted their drone and missile capability, destroyed their chances of rebuilding that." "Then we went to what the president calls the Iron Wall and the blockade, which we’d never done before," "And now we have Operation Economic Outcast, and we are isolating them economically like has never happened before."

Bessent put the Strait of Hormuz score in blunt terms: about 1.1 billion barrels moved under U.S.-protected traffic, and zero for Iran.

Blockade holds while Gulf neighbors recover

War Secretary Pete Hegseth said the United States, not Tehran, controls the strait in practice and can keep the blockade in place as long as needed.

“Iran wants to play games with things like the Strait of Hormuz. They don’t control it. We do,” Hegseth said. “They have literally gotten nothing through. Our blockade’s been ironclad, and we’re running almost at prewar levels every single night through that.”

"Iran wants to play games with things like the Strait of Hormuz. They don’t control it. We do," "They have literally gotten nothing through. Our blockade’s been ironclad, and we’re running almost at prewar levels every single night through that."

He urged Tehran to “make the right choice,” and warned that if it does not, the president will have “all the options he needs on the table.”

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that supplies moving through Hormuz have continued to rise in recent weeks. Goldman Sachs analysts estimated Persian Gulf oil exports at roughly 23.3 million barrels per day over the past week, underscoring a recovery around Iran’s collapse in loadings.

Just The News reported that Middle East Gulf crude exports excluding Iran hit 16.5 million barrels a day in September, matching pre-war averages and up 10.5 million from March, while Iran’s exports have hovered near zero since the U.S. reimposed a naval blockade in July.

That same account said only about 15 million barrels of Iranian oil remain for delivery, mostly headed to China, with revenues expected to run dry on a short clock. Bessent had already flagged a similar leftover stock last weekend and predicted there would soon be “nothing left to trade.”

Trump has framed the squeeze as the result of Tehran overplaying its hand on the strait, a hard-edged sanctions posture that also shows up in other theaters, including when Trump enacted sweeping Russia sanctions backed by steep tariffs.

Iran’s leaders admit the pain at home

Inside Iran, the pressure is no longer abstract. On Saturday, top national security official Mohsen Rezaei told a high-level meeting with President Masoud Pezeshkian and senior ministers that the country is living through one of its most difficult periods. State media did not publish his remarks verbatim.

Pezeshkian acknowledged that economic conditions had worsened and said his government had adopted a “new posture” to manage what he called the country’s “special conditions.”

The rial traded at roughly 2.69 million to the dollar Saturday after losing more than half its value over the past year. Inflation has climbed above 70 percent. Iran’s central bank has been offering up to $2 billion in U.S. currency through state banks to prop up the rial.

Reuters reported Iranians exhausting savings, losing jobs, moving, and cutting spending on basic needs. The article noted no nationwide protests had erupted yet, even as household budgets cracked.

Thursday, the Treasury expanded sanctions on Iran’s automotive and rail industries and foreign suppliers, a move aimed at cutting resources for Tehran’s military, missile and drone programs, cyber operations, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Voters who track these pressure campaigns also saw Trump move on domestic waste the same way he has abroad, including when he canceled $810 million in migrant aid and DEI spending with a rare pocket rescission.

Talks stall as both sides dig in

Diplomacy has not closed the gap. Iranian officials said Sunday they were reviewing a U.S. response sent through intermediaries after an exchange of proposals. Trump had already rejected Tehran’s latest offer as insufficient.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the strait stays shut until Iran’s terms are met.

“The Strait of Hormuz will not open until our seven conditions based on the Islamabad Memorandum are met,” Ghalibaf said.

"The Strait of Hormuz will not open until our seven conditions based on the Islamabad Memorandum are met,"

That June framework had set a ceasefire and a path toward reopening Hormuz and wider talks before Iran resumed attacks on commercial vessels and the arrangement broke down. The specific seven conditions were not laid out in the reporting.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected the idea that new sanctions or fresh military action would force Tehran to accept Washington’s terms. He called for talks based on “justice and fairness” and warned that if Iran’s enemies “again choose the path of military confrontation, our response will be stronger than before.” He also said, “There is no military solution, nor any solution based on new sanctions.”

On Sunday, Iran’s army said it is increasing the range and speed of its missiles after concluding that U.S. forces are operating farther from Iranian shores. Brig. Gen. Mohammad Akraminia said the military intends to upgrade missiles to reach adversaries at distances of up to 1,000 kilometers.

Political fights over leverage tools are familiar in Washington too, from the moment Senate Democrats voted to expand Trump’s tariff power and later objected when he used it.

Camp David meeting and Trump’s warning

Friday, senior Trump administration officials met for several hours at Camp David on Iran. Vice President JD Vance chaired the previously unannounced session. Attendees included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, White House envoy Steve Witkoff, Treasury Secretary Bessent, War Secretary Hegseth, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine.

An unnamed U.S. official said, “Things were decided or at least deeply discussed.” Trump did not spell out the choices.

“If I told you, you would have a major story,” Trump said. “But you will see. It is working out very well. Iran is not doing well.”

He added that a decision is coming either way.

“We have a decision that I’ll make about Iran,” Trump said. “Iran has been decimated. So the only question is it’ll either be the easy way or the hard way. We’ll have it the easy way or the hard way.”

"We have a decision that I’ll make about Iran," "Iran has been decimated. So the only question is it’ll either be the easy way or the hard way. We’ll have it the easy way or the hard way."

Just The News also carried Trump’s own account of why Tehran suddenly wanted the strait opened: “I rejected their deal. They want to make a deal where they open the strait immediately because they’re losing so badly.” He said Iran “outsmarted themselves” by trying to squeeze the world, only to run into what he called the greatest blockade ever in military history.

The same maximum-pressure instinct has drawn unusual notice even from critics of the administration on crime, much as Bill Maher credited Trump’s tough crime approach when violent offenses fell across the country.

House bargaining over foreign pressure bills has followed a similar pattern, with two House Democrats breaking ranks again to advance Trump’s Russia sanctions bill.

Bessent’s ledger is simple enough for any taxpayer to read: protected oil traffic keeps moving, Iranian barrels do not, and Tehran’s currency and household budgets are absorbing the hit. A regime that funded missiles, drones, and the IRGC on oil cash now faces a week with none of it, and still insists the strait stays closed on its terms.

When oil money stops and the blockade holds, clarity arrives fast: strength still sets the terms, and wishful diplomacy does not refill empty tankers.