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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urges the Iranian public to stop paying taxes and stock up on winter fuel

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in an interview with Iran International, urged the Iranian public to stop paying taxes and to stock up in advance on winter fuel. He said he expects Iran’s economy to shrink by more than 25% by March 2027.

Bessent said that his advice to the Iranian people is not to pay taxes, because they will not get anything in return from the government. They will continue to cut social welfare. He also advised people to start now stocking up on heating fuel needed for the winter and to fill up on gasoline, because a severe fuel shortage is expected.

He predicted that from March 2026 to March 2027, Iran’s economy will contract by more than 25%, exceeding the scale of contraction after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Bessent said that the current U.S. economic pressure campaign is aimed at the Iranian regime rather than ordinary people, and said the coming eight weeks of the Operation Economic Outcast campaign will be even more intense.

Original sources:

  1. Title: US Treasury Secretary Bessent to Iran International: Iran’s economy to shrink by over 25% Publisher: Iran International English Date: 2026-10-26 URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZxrJIP1JzY Source type: interview report Verification status: read in this session (2026-10-26) Supporting content: Bessent called on the Iranian public to stop paying taxes and stock up on heating fuel; predicted that the economy would contract by more than 25% from March 2026 to March 2027

  2. Title: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in an interview with Iran International... (official post) Publisher: Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) Date: 2026-10-26 URL: https://x.com/IranIntl_En/status/2114776797959098487 Source type: media original post Verification status: read in this session (2026-10-26) Supporting content: Bessent warned to stock up on gasoline and heating fuel; predicted that by March 2027 the economy would shrink by more than a quarter; advised not to pay taxes

  3. Title: Remarks from Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent on Operation Economic Outcast against Iran Publisher: U.S. Department of the Treasury Date: 2026-08-24 URL: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0614 Source type: official announcement Verification status: read in this session (2026-10-26) Supporting content: Treasury launched Operation Economic Outcast, aiming to cut off revenue sources for the Iranian regime

ABAB AI Insight

Bessent’s remarks in the Iran International interview are part of the public narrative of the U.S. Operation Economic Outcast campaign. The campaign has been underway since August 2026 and aims to limit the Iranian regime’s revenue by cutting off oil exports, financial networks, and sanctions evasion channels. By directly advising the Iranian public not to pay taxes and to stock up on fuel, Bessent extends the effects of economic pressure from the level of the regime to the daily decisions of ordinary people.

His forecast of a contraction of more than 25% clearly covers the period from March 2026 to March 2027 and is compared with the scale of contraction after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This figure comes from Bessent’s personal judgment rather than statistics from international institutions or the Iranian government. In the interview, he also mentioned Iran’s foreign-exchange shortage, the beginning of a decline in oil output, and that the campaign will become more intense over the next eight weeks.

The advice to stop paying taxes and stock up on fuel was made against the backdrop of the continued U.S. restrictions on oil exports and financial sanctions. Bessent described the campaign as targeting the regime rather than the people, but at the same time warned that ordinary people would face fuel shortages and cuts in social welfare. This framing extends the transmission path of economic pressure from the state budget to household-level resource stockpiling decisions.

Compared with Bessent’s earlier public remarks about cutting off Iran’s oil lifeline and foreign-exchange shortages, this interview adds specific action advice for ordinary people and gives a clear time window and forecast for the magnitude of economic contraction. All of these points come from his own statements in the interview rather than third-party verified economic forecasts.

ABAB News · Laws of Cognition

  1. The public narrative of the economic pressure campaign has expanded from cutting off regime revenue to directly advising ordinary people to stop paying taxes and stock up on fuel.

  2. The forecast of more than 25% economic contraction comes from the Treasury secretary’s personal judgment, with a clearly defined window from March 2026 to March 2027.