Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the President Donald Trump-led Operation Economic Outcast, which focuses on imposing trade restrictions on Iran, has sharply curtailed Tehran’s ability to move oil through tankers, despite top Iranian officials reaffirming control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Scott Bessent Says Trump Restricting ‘Critical’ Iranian Revenue Stream
In a post on the social media platform X on Thursday, Bessent said that “Iran loaded ZERO crude oil onto tankers in September,” adding that the restrictions imposed by Trump were “cutting off the Iranian regime’s most critical source of revenue.”
The Treasury Secretary hailed the Operation Economic Outcast, saying that the move was “severing the economic lifelines that have allowed Tehran to finance its terrorist agenda.” Bessent did not provide additional details about his comments.
In a separate post, the Treasury Secretary also quoted a post by the Treasury Department that said that the Trump administration was targeting Iranian rail and automotive conglomerates, saying that “Iran’s automotive and rail industries have been coopted by the regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC].”
Bessent hailed the move in his post. “The Iranian regime’s ability to fund its war machine and inflict terror on the world has been severely diminished thanks to Operation Economic Outcast,” he said, adding that the restrictions were “directly” affecting Iran’s “enablers” and that it “lays the groundwork” for the U.S. and its allies to “drain the regime’s revenue once and for all.”
Last month, Bessent had announced a series of restrictions on Iran’s aviation industry, warning that countries and institutions allowing Iranian flights to land would be kicked out of the dollar system. Bessent then said that the restrictions were working, citing an 80% to 90% reduction in flights.
Mojtaba Khamenei’s Warning
Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei mocked Trump and the U.S., saying that the blows suffered by America and its allies had resulted in the U.S. not daring to move past the Arabian Sea.
Khamenei also said that the U.S. would eventually be kicked out of the Middle East.
Oil Movement
Oil ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds) like the United States Oil Fund (NYSE:USO) and the ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil (NYSE:UCO) were both down in overnight trading on Thursday. The United States Oil Fund slipped 0.77% to $148.87, while the ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil ETF fell 1.01% to $54.09.
At the time of writing this article, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures contracts expiring in November 2026 also declined 0.32% to $92.57. Meanwhile, Brent futures contracts maturing in November were down 0.18% to $102.13 at press time.
Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock
Recent Comments