US Treasury chief says blockade will soon force Iran to ‘reduce oil production’

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says his department has stepped up financial pressure on Tehran and moved to dismantle the networks sustaining the Iranian economy.

“The Treasury Department, through Economic Fury, has targeted Iran’s international shadow banking infrastructure, access to crypto, shadow fleet, and weapons procurement networks,” Bessent said in a post on X.

These measures also strike at funding for Iranian proxies in the region and “independent Chinese ‘teapot’ refineries that support Iran’s oil trade”.

He claimed that “these actions have disrupted tens of billions of dollars in revenue that would be used to fund” the Iranian government. As a result, “Tehran’s inflation has doubled and its currency has rapidly depreciated.”