Scott Bessent says Iran's economy is 'collapsing' as Treasury tightens financial vise
Bessent said sanctions and blocked oil sales could shrink Iran’s gross domestic product by up to 25%, while cutting off funding to its proxies.
- On Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Iran's economy is "collapsing" under "Operation Economic Outcast," an eight-week effort targeting foreign banking channels and isolating the regime's financial networks.
- Designed to cripple Tehran's ability to fund war, missiles, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the blockade has prevented at least $25 billion in Iranian crude exports since the operation began.
- The Statistical Center of Iran reported year-on-year inflation reached 89.8% in September 2026, while floating oil inventories on tankers in Asian waters were depleted by mid-October, removing a temporary earnings source.
- Tehran is unable to pay its troops or obtain dollars, Bessent said, while funding for proxies including the Houthis, Hamas, and Hezbollah is being "cut off" under U.S. sanctions.
- Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged the regime faces its "most severe crisis" since the 1979 revolution, though experts argue effective pressure requires greater international coordination than current efforts provide.
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The head of the United States Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Scott Bessent, stated that because of Washington's sanctions, Iran "is not even able to finance its armed forces". "In the context of Operation Economic Outcast, the Iranian regime is running out of means of subsistence, and its agents are under pressure.
The US Treasury Secretary claimed that US efforts to isolate Iran economically had been "very successful."
Cleveland Jewish News
Trump says Iran’s missile arsenal reduced, drone production hampered
U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent says Tehran cannot pay its troops, while U.S. Ambassador to Israel Huckabee says only Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu know whether further military action is coming.
President Donald Trump said this Wednesday during a rally in Ohio that Iran’s regime is having serious difficulties manufacturing drones due to a lack of electricity, arguing that such disruption is affecting the country’s ability to produce weapons even though they still have missiles. “Their missiles are still there, although there are still many fewer. The drones they manufacture are having difficulties because they can no longer get electric…
Treasury Secretary says US economic sanctions on Iran 'very successful'
Treasury Secretary says US economic sanctions on Iran 'very successful' US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that US efforts to isolate Iran’s economy have been “very successful”. “For the first time since Iran started producing oil, they have no barrels of oil on the water”, he said in an interview with CNBC, claiming that internal estimates show Iran’s economy contracting by as much as 25 percent from March 2025 to March 2026…
Bessent: Operation Economic Outcast Has Crushed Iran’s Economy, Cut Off Proxies
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the eight-week-old maximum pressure campaign against Iran is the toughest economic isolation in world history, with internal estimates showing Iran’s economy could contract 25 percent by March.
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