US Treasury chief Bessent moved from home to military base amid Iranian threats

• Scott Bessent moved from his home to a military base after Iranian threats, as US officials said plotting against current and former officials had become more advanced.
• Bessent leads a sanctions drive to isolate Iran and cut funds to the Revolutionary Guard; Treasury said he “will not be deterred” and will keep the pressure campaign going.
• The move shows wider risk to Trump officials, with several also using protected housing. US intelligence says Iran is still determined to hold power despite economic pain.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently moved out of his home and onto a military base after Iranian threats against his life, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

US officials concluded in recent weeks that Iranian plotting against current and former US officials had reached a more advanced stage, based in part on intelligence about threats to Bessent, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive information.

Since August, Bessent has led an economic pressure campaign meant to isolate Iran financially through tougher sanctions and restrictions on trade routes.

That role has made him one of the administration officials that Iran most wants to harm, the people said.

The severity of the threats to him is unclear. Iran’s ability to carry out large-scale attacks in the United States and other territories overseas is limited, US officials have noted.

But there have been specific, targeted threats made by Iran against individuals that US officials have deemed serious, such as a murder-for-hire plot against US President Donald Trump during the 2024 campaign.

In a statement, a Treasury Department spokesperson said Bessent “will not be deterred by the Iranian regime’s threats”, adding that he remains committed to executing the campaign to squeeze Iran’s economy.

Bessent is the latest senior Trump administration official to leave a Washington-area home for a military base or other protected housing.

At least half a dozen did so in 2025, including Stephen Miller, now White House chief of staff, and Pam Bondi, then attorney general.

The administration has not disclosed the scope of the threats against top officials, not all of which involve Iran.

In Bondi’s case, it was said to relate in part to an uptick in threats she received after the United States military snatched former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro from a hideout in Caracas and brought him to New York to face federal criminal charges.

In October, the US government put employees on heightened alert across the Middle East and moved to reduce personnel levels at embassies and consulates because of intelligence showing Iran was in the advanced stages of planning attacks against Americans.

The US military also abruptly moved bombers from a base in the United Kingdom, following a suspected terrorist plot against the site.

A central aim of the economic pressure campaign led by Bessent is to cut off money to the Revolutionary Guard, the most powerful arm of Iran’s military, which also controls much of the country’s economy.

The administration hopes the pressure will help spare the United States from having to resume major military operations in the war Trump started Feb 28, a deeply unpopular conflict that the president has repeatedly promised to bring to a close.

Bessent and other officials say the pressure campaign is working, shrinking Iran’s economy, driving the collapse of its currency and sharply degrading living standards there.

However, US intelligence indicates that Iran’s hard-line leadership is determined to hold on to power at nearly any cost, according to two officials with direct knowledge of the information, which suggests economic pain alone may not lead to regime change.

Iran has targeted Trump since January 2020, when he ordered the drone strike that killed General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force.

In 2024, federal prosecutors charged Farhad Shakeri, whom they described as an operative of the Guard, with plotting to kill Trump in retaliation for Soleimani’s death.

Several of Trump’s national security officials involved in the lead-up to that strike also faced Iranian threats. The Biden administration kept in place some people’s government security details.

But Trump revoked security protections almost immediately after returning to office, including for some former advisers who still saw themselves as his allies. NYTIMES

• This article originally appeared in The New York Times.