Bessent Says, "Iranian Oil Will Soon Run Out" as Sanctions and Pressure Show Results

[Financial News] U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Iran has little crude oil left to sell to China, its largest oil importer, and assessed that the U.S. pressure campaign against Iran is producing results.
In an interview on December 6 local time with a Fox News Channel program hosted by Lara Trump, the daughter-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, Bessent responded to claims that China’s imports of Iranian crude are keeping the Iranian regime afloat. "Iran has only about 30 million barrels of crude oil left that China has not yet purchased," he said. "That, too, will soon run out, and the issue of China’s imports will naturally disappear because there will be no products left to sell."
He added that the U.S. military’s blockade of Iranian ports is making it increasingly difficult for Iran to export not only crude oil but also other goods, and that strong sanctions against Iran are dealing a major blow to its economy.
Regarding tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, Bessent emphasized that the United States maintains control of the strait despite Iran’s attacks on commercial vessels. He reaffirmed President Donald Trump’s position, saying, "The claim that Iran controls the blockade is not true. We control the strait."
He also claimed that Gulf countries are pursuing the construction of bypass pipelines that would allow crude oil to be transported safely without passing through the Strait of Hormuz. He said the strait’s importance could be cut in half within a few years.
Experts, however, believe that replacing the Strait of Hormuz in the short term would be difficult. Pipeline construction would cost billions of dollars, require routes across a wide area, and leave the infrastructure vulnerable to attacks by regional armed groups.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury Department) continues to expand Operation Economic Outcast, a sanctions campaign targeting Iran’s financial networks. The Treasury Department recently added numerous Iran-linked individuals and organizations to its sanctions list, along with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) branch of Egypt’s state-owned Banque Misr and Türkiye’s Golden Global Bank.
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