Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Iran is about to reach a historic financial dead end, with no oil at sea and no oil revenue this week. The warning arrives as Tehran’s own top security official acknowledges a deepening economic crisis.

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

Bessent attributed the unprecedented squeeze to a deliberate campaign conducted in three stages. It began with a U.S. military assault earlier this year, continued with President Donald Trump’s blockade of Iranian commerce, and now centers on isolating Tehran economically.

The military campaign began in late February and lasted roughly six weeks, according to Bessent. He said it destroyed Iran’s navy and air force, substantially depleted its drone and missile capabilities, and crippled its ability to rebuild those forces.

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“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.”

Washington then established what Trump calls the “Iron Wall,” a U.S. naval blockade preventing Iranian oil exports while protecting international traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Operation Economic Outcast followed as the administration’s broader effort to cut Tehran off from remaining trade and revenue.

Treasury expanded the campaign Thursday with sanctions targeting Iran’s automotive and rail industries, along with foreign suppliers. The measures seek to restrict resources available to Iran’s military, missile and drone programs, cyber operations, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Bessent said Iranian oil has effectively been shut out of the strait while commerce protected by the United States continues moving. “Right now, the score, in terms of barrels out of the strait: U.S. about 1.1 billion, Iran zero,” he said.

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Roughly 15 million barrels loaded before the blockade remained aboard tankers last weekend, with the final cargoes largely headed to China. Bessent predicted Tehran would have “nothing left to trade” once those shipments were delivered, and he now says that moment is arriving.

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Inside Iran, the consequences are becoming increasingly difficult for the regime to ignore. Mohsen Rezaei, Iran’s top national security official, described the circumstances as among the most difficult periods the country has faced during a government meeting Saturday with President Masoud Pezeshkian and senior ministers.

Pezeshkian acknowledged at the meeting that economic conditions had worsened and said his government adopted a “new posture” to manage the country’s “special conditions.” Iranian state media did not publish Rezaei’s remarks verbatim.

The rial traded at roughly 2.69 million to the dollar Saturday after losing more than half its value during the past year, while inflation climbed above 70%. Iran’s central bank responded by offering up to $2 billion in U.S. currency through state banks to support the rial.

Reuters reported that Iranians are exhausting savings, losing jobs, moving to less expensive areas, and cutting spending on basic needs. Fear of government repression and the immediate struggle to make ends meet have so far constrained the economic discontent from becoming broader nationwide protests.

Meanwhile, Persian Gulf oil shipments outside Iran are recovering. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that supplies moving through Hormuz have continued rising, while Goldman Sachs analysts estimated Gulf exports reached roughly 23.3 million barrels per day during the past week, returning to prewar levels.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington can maintain the blockade as long as necessary and dismissed Tehran’s claims that it controls the waterway. “Iran wants to play games with things like the Strait of Hormuz. They don’t control it. We do,” Hegseth said.

Iran is seeking relief as Washington and Tehran exchange proposals over a possible agreement. Iranian officials said Sunday that the United States had responded through intermediaries to Tehran’s latest proposal, which Trump had already rejected as insufficient, and that Iran’s government was reviewing the response.

Tehran continues demanding sanctions relief and an end to restrictions on maritime commerce before fully reopening Hormuz. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the strait would remain closed until Washington accepted seven Iranian conditions connected to the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding.

Senior Trump administration officials met for several hours at Camp David on Friday to discuss Iran. Vice President JD Vance chaired the gathering, which included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Hegseth, Bessent, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, White House envoy Steve Witkoff, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine.

Trump said Saturday that Iran had been “decimated” and that he would make a decision about the country. Iran’s army announced Sunday that it had begun increasing the range and speed of its missiles, while the administration maintained it could continue the blockade if Tehran rejected an agreement.

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