Iran's Oil Exports Collapse to a Seventh of Pre-War Levels as US Prepares New Sanctions Monday

Iran's oil exports have cratered to about one-seventh of pre-war volumes, and the Trump administration is about to squeeze harder.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is scheduled to hold a press conference Monday, August 24, to announce a new round of sanctions against Iran, according to Fox News. Bessent has described the effort as the largest campaign of coordinated economic isolation in history. President Trump warned last week that Washington would launch what he called the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country.

The numbers already tell a brutal story. Iran loaded an average of roughly 287,000 barrels per day of crude so far this month, down from about 2 million barrels per day before the war, according to tanker-tracking data from commodities intelligence firm Kpler, cited by Fox News via Iran International. China, Iran's largest oil customer, has taken in about 523,000 barrels per day this month, compared with more than 1.7 million barrels per day at the war's start.

Kpler estimates more than 40 million barrels of Iranian crude are sitting stranded on tankers in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, trapped since the US reimposed a maritime blockade in mid-July. Iran's fuel oil exports have dropped to roughly 61,000 barrels per day this month from about 220,000 barrels per day earlier in the year, and liquefied petroleum gas exports have nearly stopped entirely, per Iran International's reporting.

Oil and fuel oil exports generated $57.5 billion for Iran last year, about 55% of the country's total exports, according to Iranian central bank data cited by Iran International. A government running on oil revenue with a seventh of its normal export volume is a government running out of cash.

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