OAN Staff Lillian Mann
2:10 PM – Monday, April 27, 2026
During an appearance on Fox News’ “The Sunday Briefing,” President Donald Trump asserted that Iran’s oil infrastructure is currently on the brink of a catastrophic failure that could materialize within the next three days.
He attributed this imminent collapse to a U.S. naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, which has effectively halted the nation’s ability to export its primary commodity.
Trump further explained that while Iranian facilities continue to produce oil, the lack of viable export routes has left the surplus with nowhere to go, creating immense physical and logistical pressure on the country’s internal storage and pipeline systems.
“When you have, you know, lines of vast amounts of oil pouring through your system, if for any reason that line is closed because you can’t continue to put it into containers or ships, which has happened to them — they have no ships because of the blockade — what happens is that line explodes from within, both mechanically and in the earth,” the president said.
Trump also warned that if these detrimental failures occur, the country will have to spend vast amounts of time and money rebuilding the impacted infrastructure, and other issues could still linger.
“It’s something that happens where it just explodes. And they say they only have about three days left before that happens. And when it explodes, you can never, regardless, you can never rebuild it the way it was,” Trump said.
Analysts believe that Iran could be forced to shut down its oil fields as early as April 29th due to the blockade, which could also impact the crude production long term.
“In other words, it will always be, if you rebuild it, it’s hard to rebuild it all, but it would only be about 50% of what it is right now,” Trump said, emphasizing that he believes Iran is ‘under pressure’ because of the situation.
Forced to divert its oil to onshore tanks, Tehran is quickly running out of storage, as the tanks are only able to hold so much, since its exports have been halted.
“When you have to turn it off because you have no place to store this oil, either put it on ships or storage tanks, which they are just about finished with, a very bad thing is going to happen,” Trump said on Sunday. “When you have lines of vast amounts of oil pouring through your system, if for any reason that line is closed because you can’t continue to put it into containers or ships, which has happened to them, they have no ships because of the blockade.”
The UK-based fuel analysts’ firm, Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute and Energy Aspects, estimated that Iran’s storage space will run out in the next week.
“Once the tanks are filled, Iran would have to shut down its oil fields, which risks long-term damage to the fields,” said Annika Ganzeveld, the Middle East portfolio manager for the AEI’s Critical Threats Project, previously to The Post.
When oil production facilities are subjected to sudden and prolonged shutdowns, the technical and structural challenges of resuming operations multiply significantly. Abrupt closures often lead to reservoir damage, equipment degradation, and pressure imbalances, making it increasingly difficult — and in some cases, impossible — to restore output to its original capacity once the wells are reopened.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this month that “in a matter of days, Kharg Island storage will be full and the fragile Iranian oil wells will be shut in.” Kharg Island is the distribution point for 90% of Iran’s oil.
To manage the immediate surplus, market analysts speculate that Iran may further curtail production levels for the rest of the month or utilize its fleet of oil tankers as makeshift floating storage. However, these measures represent only a temporary reprieve for a nation currently producing approximately 2 million barrels per day.
According to estimates from the energy consultancy FGE, Iran’s operational window is limited by its domestic and offshore storage capacity of roughly 122 million barrels, suggesting the country has approximately seven weeks before full storage tanks would mandate a total production shutdown.
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