Scott Bessent Moves To A Military Base After Iranian Threats, Sources Say
The Treasury chief has led Washington’s drive to choke Iran’s economy. His department says the threats will not stop him.
WASHINGTON, Nov 11 – Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has moved out of his home in Washington and onto a military base after Iranian threats against his life, two people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
The New York Times was the first to report the move. It said it was not clear how serious the threats against Bessent were.
Bessent is at the center of the United States’ effort to squeeze Iran’s economy. Since August, he has led a campaign of sanctions and economic pressure known as Operation Economic Outcast, vowing to bring about what he called the “economic asphyxiation” of Iran.
The aim is to pressure Tehran to stop attacks on ships and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The key waterway has been largely closed since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.
The campaign is being carried out alongside a U.S. naval blockade of Iran’s ports, including sanctions on banks in the Middle East and other financial institutions involved in transactions with Iran.
“The secretary will not back down in the face of threats from the Iranian regime,” a Treasury spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said Bessent remains committed to both the campaign and the blockade, adding that the combined measures are bringing Iran’s economy closer to collapse.
One source said worries about his safety grew after The Wall Street Journal published an aerial photo of his home. Bessent bought the mansion in the Georgetown area of Washington for $12.5 million soon after he became Treasury secretary in January 2025.
The photo made it possible to work out where the house is, the source said. So Bessent was moved to a military base to keep him safe.
“The news media has an obligation to act responsibly,” the source said, pointing to growing threats against public officials.
The base where he is staying has not been named.
The move comes after a warning from inside the government. Late last month, a senior intelligence official wrote in a memo, seen by Reuters, that Iranian plots against United States personnel and American citizens had reached an advanced stage.
Jay Clayton, the national intelligence chief, said last month that Tehran had “substantially increased” its efforts to target Americans in the Middle East and beyond, the Guardian reported.
Those efforts include stepping up the targeting of current and former United States officials such as Bessent, The New York Times said, citing three people familiar with the matter.
But United States officials have also noted that Iran’s ability to carry out large attacks inside the country and in other places abroad is limited, the newspaper reported.
Iran has denied plotting attacks against officials and people on United States soil in the past.
Other steps show how far the worry about Iran has spread. Last month, Washington ordered staff who are not needed at its embassy in Saudi Arabia, along with their families, to leave. That came after more attacks by the Houthis, a group in Yemen backed by Tehran.
The United States military has also moved some aircraft out of two British bases in recent weeks, amid reported threats from Iran. The bombers left RAF Fairford after a foiled plot against the base in September. This week, prosecutors in New York charged a jailed Iranian operative with planning that attack.
The war has taken a heavy toll. United States and Israeli strikes on Iran, and Israeli attacks on Lebanon, have killed thousands of people and forced millions from their homes. American and Israeli attacks have also killed top Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The war has since settled into a stalemate, with much of the fighting now focused on the Strait of Hormuz.
