Washington — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has relocated from his home in the Washington, D.C., area to a military base following a series of Iranian threats against his life.
“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 together are collapsing Iran’s economy,” a Treasury Department spokesperson said.
The decision comes as Bessent has spearheaded a U.S. push to cripple Iran’s economy, vowing an “economic onslaught” against Tehran through a web of sanctions. The New York Times first reported Bessent’s relocation.
A source familiar with the situation pointed to a Wall Street Journal story as the impetus for the move.
“After The Wall Street Journal published an article featuring an online photo that allowed the location of the secretary’s Georgetown home to be geo-located, security concerns began to increase which have now forced the secretary to relocate to a military base for his safety,” the person told CBS News.
Mehmet Eser/Anadolu via Getty Images 
CBS News has also reached out to the White House for comment.
U.S. national intelligence chief Jay Clayton warned last month that Iran has “substantially increased” its efforts to target Americans in the Middle East and beyond.
Those efforts include beefing up the targeting of current and former U.S. officials such as Bessent, the Times reported. Iranian plotting against U.S. officials has reached a “more advanced stage,” according to the anonymous sources cited in the Times.
Clayton’s warning, contained in an unclassified memo that was sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and obtained by CBS News, came as the State Department adjusted staffing at diplomatic posts across the Middle East, and the U.S. military pared back its footprint in the region, amid concerns about direct threats from Iran and threats from the Iranian-backed Houthi movement in Yemen.
The U.S. military has also removed some aircraft from two British bases in recent weeks following reported threats from Iran.
Diplomatic efforts to end the war are gathering steam, with Rubio saying on Tuesday that he saw no need to resume major combat operations against Iran because economic sanctions and other restrictions were working so effectively.
