US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has recently moved out of his Washington home and onto a US military base after Iranian threats against his life, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the matter. The New York Times first reported the move.

Source: Reuters

A senior intelligence official in the Trump administration warned in a memo late last month, seen by Reuters, that Iranian plots against US personnel and American citizens had reached an advanced stage. The severity of the specific threats against Bessent was not immediately clear, the Times reported.

Security concerns around Bessent rose after the Wall Street Journal published an aerial photograph of the Georgetown mansion he bought for $12.5 million (yaani roughly 110 crore rupees) shortly after his confirmation as Treasury secretary in January 2025, one source told Reuters. The photograph allowed the home to be geolocated, and Bessent was relocated to a military base for his safety, the source said.

Bessent is the public face of Washington's economic war on Tehran — and Tehran's defiance continued on Wednesday, when security chief Mohsen Rezaei said Iran will not let even a single particle of its enriched uranium leave the country. Read: Iran's Rezaei rules out any uranium transfer abroad

Since August, Bessent has led the US sanctions and economic pressure campaign against Iran, dubbed Operation Economic Outcast, aimed at pushing Tehran to end attacks on shipping and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. In a statement reported by Reuters, the Treasury said the secretary "will not be deterred by the Iranian regime's threats" and remains committed to executing Operation Economic Outcast and maintaining the blockade, which it said are together collapsing Iran's economy.

The Times reported that US officials have noted Iran's ability to carry out large-scale attacks inside the United States and other territories overseas is limited. The reported threat against Bessent has not been publicly detailed by US or Iranian officials, and Iran has not commented on the reports.

The move underlines how the US-Iran confrontation — now centred on the Strait of Hormuz blockade, shipping attacks and the stalled nuclear file — is reaching into the personal security of the officials running Washington's side of it. What happens next depends on whether US intelligence publicly details the alleged plots, and on whether the economic campaign Bessent leads produces talks or further escalation.