Bessent: Iran to have no oil shipments or revenue this week
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Iran will have no oil shipments at sea this week and will earn no revenue from them, describing what he called an "unprecedented" US economic isolation. He said Washington moved from direct military operations to imposing a blockade and then to economic isolation, and that oil supplies will improve and become more abundant, lowering prices. President Donald Trump said Iran "is not in a good state", expected the war to end soon and oil prices to return to pre-conflict levels, while G7 leaders agreed to release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude from their reserves over the next four months.
Why it matters: The statements present sanctions and economic statecraft, rather than direct military operations, as the instrument now determining the conflict's effect on energy markets.