U.S. Treasury Secretary: We Will Reduce Iran's Oil Exports to 10% of Current Levels

The U.S. Treasury Secretary has promised that the goal of the Trump administration's "maximum pressure" campaign is to reduce Iran's oil exports to 10% of current levels. Scott Busent stated on Friday, February 15, that Iran currently exports 1.5 to 1.6 million barrels of oil daily, and we aim to bring that down to 100,000 barrels. President Trump signed a directive last week to revive the maximum pressure policy against Iran but expressed hope that it would not need to be implemented. Exclusive statistics from Radio Farda from the commodity information company, Kpler, indicate that Iran's oil deliveries to China in January of this year, the first month of Trump's return to the White House, fell to 847,000 barrels, which is less than half of November's levels, prior to his election victory. However, the volume of oil loading from Iranian ports last month was 1.66 million barrels, showing a smaller decline compared to November, indicating that the Islamic Republic still insists on maintaining its oil sales level. New U.S. sanctions against Iran's oil transfer network to China were announced. China, at the beginning of January and even before the Trump administration took office, banned the entry of sanctioned oil tankers into the Shandong port, the largest receiving terminal for Iranian oil, leading to a significant decline in oil receipts from Iran by Chinese customers. Mr. Scott stated that the Islamic Republic uses its oil revenues to finance "terrorist activities around the world," and purchasing oil from this country is unacceptable. He emphasized that reducing Iran's oil exports to 100,000 barrels would put the country in a "severe economic crisis." The U.S. Treasury Secretary added, "Internal data from the Islamic Republic shows that Iran's economy is currently very fragile due to widespread inflation and a massive budget deficit." Bloomberg news agency also reported on Mr. Scott's interview with Fox, noting that the Treasury Secretary's remarks were more severe than recent statements from Mr. Trump. The U.S. President had said last week that he was reluctant to sign the maximum pressure directive against Iran and hoped for an agreement to prevent its implementation, an agreement that he claimed would prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. However, following his remarks, Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, explicitly declared his opposition to negotiations with the U.S., and Masoud Pezeshkian, the President of Iran, stated that "the leader's words are final for the government." In a speech marking the anniversary of the 1979 revolution, Mr. Pezeshkian claimed that Donald Trump wants to bring the revolution to its "knees."