Bessent relocates from D.C.-area home to military base after Iran threatens to kill him, reports say

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has relocated from his home in the Washington, D.C., area to a military base following an Iranian threat against his life, The New York Times reported, followed by the Reuters news agency. Both cited people familiar with the matter.CBS News has reached out to the Treasury Department and the White House for comment.Bessent has spearheaded a U.S. push to cripple Iran's economy, vowing an "economic onslaught" against Tehran through a web of sanctions.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, but the severity of the threats against Bessent was unclear. A Treasury Department spokesperson said in a statement to the Times that Bessent "will not be deterred by the Iranian regime's threats" and that he is still committed to his campaign to squeeze Iran's economy.

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.