US naval blockade depleting Iranian trade capabilities, Bessent warns

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is warning that U.S. sanctions against Iran will leave the Middle Eastern with little prospect of global trade if Iranian leaders do not negotiate an end to hostilities soon.

In a Sept. 27 Fox News interview, Bessent said that Iran is "isolated from the world" and will have “nothing left to trade for anything” within the next two weeks. He noted that Iran has only 15 million barrels of oil, the country’s most valuable commodity, but is unable to trade or sell the oil due to a U.S. naval blockade.

“Probably within the next two weeks, they are going to make their final deliveries of oil to China, and then they will have nothing,” the Treasury Secretary said. “It is an empty set, and I believe they are feeling the pressure here and that’s why they want a deal.”

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Bessent’s comments come as Trump continues to press Iran for more concessions in the midst of negotiations.

“They have made a proposal and I rejected it,” Trump said Saturday, according to Axios. He said that he expects negotiations to continue this week.

Iranian officials were in New York last week to negotiate a long-term end to hostilities, but Iranian and U.S. delegates could not agree on terms. Namely, Trump is insisting that Iran’s leaders agree not to develop nuclear weapons, while the Iranian delegation has largely focused on trade issues and the U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for delivery of much of the world’s oil supply.

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