US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has left his Washington-area home and moved into a military base after receiving death threats from Iran, according to three people familiar with the sensitive assessment who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In recent weeks, US officials concluded that Iranian plotting against current and former American officials has reached a more advanced stage, a judgment shaped in part by intelligence detailing threats targeting Bessent. Since August, the Treasury chief has led an aggressive sanctions and maritime trade restrictions campaign aimed at isolating Iran economically, turning him into a prime target alongside Donald Trump’s inner circle, though the severity of the threat remains unclear.
While US officials say Tehran’s ability to stage large-scale operations on American soil or overseas is limited, Washington treats targeted plots against individuals as serious, pointing to a 2024 murder-for-hire plot during Trump’s election campaign. A Treasury Department spokesperson said Bessent will not be deterred by threats from Tehran and remains committed to tightening financial pressure on Iran.
Bessent joins at least six senior Trump administration figures who relocated to military bases or fortified residences over the past year, including White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and then-Attorney General Pam Bondi—whose security threats rose after US forces extracted former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro from Caracas to face federal criminal charges.
Following intelligence last month that Iran was finalizing plots against Americans, Washington heightened security alerts for US personnel across the Middle East, trimmed embassy and consulate staffing, and abruptly pulled bombers from a British military base over a suspected terror plot.
Bessent’s sanctions drive seeks to choke revenue flowing to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which dominates a broad swath of Iran’s economy, hoping financial strain avoids renewed large-scale military action in the deeply unpopular war Trump launched on February 28. Although US officials contend sanctions are shrinking Iran’s economy and hammering its currency and living standards, two US officials familiar with intelligence reports said hardline leaders appear determined to cling to power at nearly any cost, suggesting economic pressure alone may not force political change.
Iran has targeted Trump since January 2020, when a US drone strike ordered by Trump killed Quds Force commander Maj Gen Qassem Soleimani; in 2024, federal prosecutors charged alleged IRGC operative Farhad Shakeri with plotting to assassinate Trump in retaliation.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report