US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent addresses the New York Economic Club on March 6, 2025.
Charly Triballeau | AFP | Getty images
President Donald Trump's sanctions against Iran are designed to close the country's oil industry and “collapse its already flamboyant economy,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday.
The United States aggressively deploys sanctions against Iran for “an immediate maximum impact,” said Bessent at the New York Economic Club. Trump’s goal is to reduce Iran’s oil exports by 1.5 million barrels per day to a net, the Treasury Secretary said.
“We are going to close the capacities of the oil sector and Iranian drones,” said Bessent. The administration also intends to reduce Tehran's access to the international financial system, he said.
The prices of American crude oil and the Brent world reference have become positive after the comments of Bessent. The intermediary of West Texas increased by 5 cents to close at $ 66.37 per barrel while Brent won 16 cents to settle at $ 69.46.
“Making Iran will mark the start of our updated sanctions policy,” said a former global investment official. “If I were Iranian, I would withdraw all my money from the Rial now,” he said, referring to the Iranian currency.
CNBC contacted the United Nations Iranian mission to comment.
Trump reproduced his pressure campaign on Iran through a Presidential memorandum On February 4, two days later, the Treasury Department began to impose sanctions on an international network shipping Iranian oil in China.
Prices for oil fell on several levels of hollow on Wednesday, while Trump's prices against Canada, Mexico and China have raised investors that economic growth will slow down and rough demand will vacillate. OPEC + also confirmed this week that it would gradually bring back 2.2 million barrels per day on the market from April.
The oil market is currently seeing a drop in Iranian supply as the only bullish catalyst for prices, JPMorgan analysts directed by Natasha Kaneva told customers in a note on Thursday.
Trump, after launching his maximum pressure campaign, said he wanted to negotiate a nuclear agreement with Iran. The president said he hoped that the maximum pressure “should not be used to a large extent”.
“I prefer a verified nuclear peace agreement, which will allow Iran to grow peacefully and prosper,” said Trump in an article on social networks on February 5. In 2018, the president withdrew the United States from the United States Complete full action plan Nuclear offer negotiated by former President Barack Obama.
