'Iran zero': Scott Bessent gives new details on Trump's Iran campaign

WASHINGTON, DC: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered a new scorecard of President Donald Trump's Iran campaign, saying Iran will have “no revenues” this week.

He said the administration has moved from military action and a blockade to Operation Economic Outcast, targeting Iran's economic connections.

Bessent made the remarks in an interview on ‘The Axios Show’, released Saturday, October 3.

Scott Bessent says Iran's oil revenue is about to hit zero

Bessent said the campaign has progressed through what he described as a sequence of military and economic pressure, culminating in Operation Economic Outcast.

“We destroyed their navy, their air force, substantially depleted their drone and missile capability, destroyed their chances of rebuilding that,” Bessent said.

He added that the administration was now isolating Tehran economically “like it's never happened before.”

He gave a numerical comparison to describe the situation, saying, "You know, right now the score turns of barrels out of the Strait, US about 1.1 billion, Iran zero."

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

Bessent said the economic campaign had become a major part of his Treasury role after former Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned him before taking the job that national security responsibilities would be a major surprise.

Operation Economic Outcast targets Iran's financial ties

Operation Economic Outcast expands the administration's effort to isolate Iran economically through secondary sanctions on countries, companies and other entities that do business with Tehran.

In August, Bessent described the effort as an “economic onslaught against Iran's financial connections around the globe.”

The administration has threatened purchasers of Iranian oil, shipping companies, exchange houses, banks and entities accused of helping evade sanctions.

As per ABC News, five sectors have been identified for sanctions: digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping.

Bessent had said countries that reject US requests to end economic activity with Iran “should expect to share in the isolation of a withering regime.”

The administration said nearly 60 entities, individuals and vessels in multiple jurisdictions had already been sanctioned under the campaign.

Trump has threatened an unprecedented economic squeeze

Trump said in August that the US would launch what he called the “most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country” against Iran, according to CNBC.

Trump said countries helping Tehran evade sanctions would face severe financial penalties, describing the effort as “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale.”

He also identified oil smuggling, currency swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries and front companies as channels the administration wanted shut down.

ABC News reported that the administration had not announced many specifics about the broader operation but was initially pressuring countries and entities to voluntarily end economic relationships with Iran.

Bessent said the president was contacting world leaders with specific requests to stop interacting with Tehran. 

“Every country has a defined timeline to shut down activities we have identified,” he said.

In the Axios interview, Bessent also acknowledged the campaign had unfolded through multiple stages rather than the shorter sequence he had initially hoped for. 

“I got called in at the end, and I'm quite optimistic about what I see,” he said.