US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has moved out of his home and onto a military base following threats against his life attributed to Iran, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing three people familiar with the situation.
The severity of the threats is not clear. According to the Times, intelligence about threats against Bessent was among the information that led US officials to conclude that Iranian plots against current and former American officials had reached a more advanced stage. Late last month, a senior intelligence official in the Trump administration warned in a memo seen by Reuters that lethal Iranian plots against American citizens had reached "advanced stages."
A Treasury Department spokesperson did not dispute the report. The spokesperson said Bessent "will not be deterred by the Iranian regime's threats" and remains committed to the administration's economic pressure campaign.
Bessent has been the face of that campaign since the war with Iran began on February 28. His department has imposed sweeping sanctions on Iranian oil shipments and Iran's aviation sector, warning that companies, airports and countries that service Iranian flights could be cut off from the US dollar system.
Bessent is the latest senior Trump administration official to move into military housing in the Washington area. At least six have done so since last year, including White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. According to the Times, Iranian threats have also been made against the president and his family.
US officials have noted that Iran's ability to carry out large-scale attacks in the United States and elsewhere abroad is limited. Iran has denied plotting attacks against officials or people on US soil.
The report came the same day the Justice Department unsealed an indictment accusing an Iranian-backed militia commander of helping coordinate, from a New York jail, a plot against a British air base housing American forces. This week, the US military also moved aircraft out of a second British base, RAF Mildenhall, over a reported Iranian threat.
