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Bessent Moves to Military Base as Iran Threats Grow

CalebNovember 12, 20260

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has moved from his Washington home to a U.S. military base after Iranian threats against his life. The New York Times first reported the move on Tuesday, Nov. 10, Reuters confirmed it, and Treasury Department officials confirmed it as well. The location of the base has not been disclosed.

A Treasury spokesperson said Bessent “will not be deterred by the Iranian regime’s threats.” The severity of the specific threats is still not clear, according to the Times. A source told USA Today the move followed a rise in security concerns after a photo of Bessent’s house was published.

Bessent has led the administration’s economic pressure campaign against Iran, known as Operation Economic Outcast, since August. That role, and the war with Iran that began on Feb. 28, help explain why he would be a target.

The move came the same day the Justice Department unsealed a major Iran case. On Nov. 10, prosecutors in New York unsealed an eight count superseding indictment charging three men with terrorism related offenses. The men are Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, a dual Iranian Iraqi national, Mohsen Mohajeri, an Iranian national, and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, an Iraqi national.

The indictment, and what it does not say

Prosecutors say the men acted in support of Kata’ib Hizballah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, both designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organizations. They are accused of involvement in nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks across Europe and the United States, including a September 2026 plan targeting RAF Fairford in England, a base that houses U.S. military aircraft and personnel. These are charges, not findings. The men are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in court. Al-Saadi is already in federal custody in New York, where he was charged in May.

Here is an important limit. Nothing in the indictment mentions Bessent, and officials have not publicly tied the two stories together. The timing is striking, but the public record does not establish a link between the indicted men and the threats against Bessent.

Iran has previously denied plotting attacks against officials or people on U.S. soil, according to Reuters. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said in an interview broadcast Wednesday, Nov. 11, that if American aircraft take off from a U.S. base, even one in Europe, to bomb Iran, Iran will strike that base as well. He also said Iran may strike “certain islands that they assume are beyond the reach of our missiles,” without naming them.

On Thursday, Nov. 12, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy said two supertankers carrying more than 4 million barrels of oil were disabled by explosions while crossing the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday night. The Guards said the ships had taken an “unauthorized” route and warned that any vessel cooperating with the U.S. military would meet the same outcome. The ships have not been identified, and the cause has not been independently confirmed. The U.S. Air Force has moved aircraft from RAF Mildenhall in England “because of a threat,” according to the Associated Press, with The Wall Street Journal linking the threat to Iran. The threats are real enough to move a Cabinet secretary onto a military base, but the details are still mostly unconfirmed.

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