Satellite imagery reveals a halt in tanker traffic at Tehran’s primary maritime terminal under Washington’s intensified economic campaign, according to Scott Bessent.
WASHINGTON : Iranian crude oil shipments from Kharg Island have ground to an apparent standstill, with commercial satellite footage showing berths devoid of tankers at the country’s primary Persian Gulf export terminal, United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced.
Bessent released satellite imagery comparing operations at the terminal before and after the rollout of Washington’s economic pressure campaign, dubbed “Operation Economic Outcast”. The visual evidence showed active tanker loadings replaced by empty docks across the maritime facility.
“Before: tankers filled Iran’s main oil-loading terminal. After: no crude tankers in sight,” Bessent said in a public statement detailing the enforcement measures. “Kharg Island is now nothing more than a monument to the one thing the Iranian regime can still produce: failure”.
Located roughly 25 kilometers off the Iranian mainland in the northern Persian Gulf, Kharg Island serves as the terminal hub for an estimated 90 percent of Iran’s seaborne crude exports. Disrupting operations at the facility cuts directly into the central government’s primary source of foreign currency.
The Treasury Department stated that the enforcement campaign aims to sever revenues directed toward weapons procurement, regional armed proxies, and elite elements within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Washington has widened the scope of secondary sanctions, warning international maritime insurers, vessel classification bodies, bunker suppliers, and port service intermediaries against assisting illicit Iranian shipments.
Bessent argued that the economic hardships facing ordinary Iranian citizens stem directly from Tehran’s prioritization of geopolitical posturing over domestic stability. He noted that leadership in Tehran has repeatedly prioritized regional confrontation and military expenditure over the basic economic welfare of its population.
The sharp drop in loading activity at Kharg Island reflects heightened pressure on international tanker operators, who face total exclusion from the US financial system if found dealing in Iranian oil. Marine tracking services and commercial satellite monitoring have documented a wider contraction across Iranian export logistics, as global maritime service providers step back from sanctioned vessels.
Iranian officials have not formally commented on the latest satellite imagery or the reported halt in Kharg Island tanker activity. Tehran has traditionally relied on ship-to-ship transfers, AIS transponder manipulation, and intermediary front companies to move crude when primary export terminals face close international scrutiny.
