Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has quietly relocated from his Washington-area home to a military base, after US officials determined Iranian plots against American officials had progressed and specifically included threats against him, according to people briefed on the intelligence. Sources tell the New York Times that Bessent has been the public face of an aggressive sanctions push designed to choke off Iran’s access to global finance and restrict trade routes, making him a top target. A source tells Reuters that concerns for Bessent’s safety spiked after the Wall Street Journal published an aerial view of his mansion in Georgetown.
Because that image could be geolocated, the decision was made to relocate Bessent. The Treasury Department said Bessent “will not be deterred,” however, and will continue leading the economic squeeze. That squeeze, deemed “Operation Economic Outcast,” aims to cut funding to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and avoid a deeper US military escalation in the war that President Trump began in February.
Bessent joins a small group of senior Trump officials who’ve shifted to secure housing as Iran and other actors allegedly eye individual targets at home and abroad. On Tuesday, the DOJ announced the indictment of three Iranian nationals on terror charges, with alleged involvement in close to 20 attacks or attempted attacks in the US and Europe, per CBNC.