US Treasury chief moves to military base after reported Iranian threats

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has moved from his Washington home to a military base after reported threats linked to Iran, according to US media reports. The move comes as Washington presses an economic campaign against Tehran and US officials warn of increased threats against Americans.

The New York Times first reported Bessent’s relocation on Tuesday, citing three sources, according to Al Jazeera. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters that the threats increased after The Wall Street Journal published an aerial photograph of Bessent’s Georgetown home in a January 2025 article. The photograph made the property possible to locate, the person said.

“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,” a source told CBS, according to the BBC. Those concerns prompted the move to a military base in the Washington area, the source said. The exact nature of the threats remains unclear.

A Treasury Department spokesperson said Bessent “will not be deterred” by the threats. In a statement to Reuters quoted by Al Jazeera, the spokesperson said he remains committed to “executing Operation Economic Outcast and maintaining the blockade, which together are collapsing Iran’s economy.” Bessent has led US efforts to pressure Iran through sanctions and restrictions on its trade.

Iran has repeatedly denied plotting attacks on officials and other people in the United States. In September, Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton warned that Iran had “substantially increased” efforts to target Americans, including US officials, the BBC reported. The New York Times has reported that current and former officials are among potential targets; one source told the newspaper the effort had “reached a more advanced stage.”

Bessent is not the only US official to move into protected housing. Stephen Miller, now White House chief of staff, moved to a base in late 2025, before the conflict with Iran began, the BBC reported. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio also live on military bases, while former Attorney General Pam Bondi and former intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard have done so.

The US and Israel launched an air campaign against Iran in February, killing its leader, according to the BBC. Iran retaliated with strikes on US allies in the region, and the Strait of Hormuz — a route for about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas — was effectively closed. A preliminary US-Iran agreement in June to end the war and reopen the strait collapsed within weeks after attacks on shipping resumed and the US reinstated a blockade targeting Iranian ports, the BBC reported.

Al Jazeera also reported security concerns at US military facilities in Britain. Citing The Wall Street Journal, it said US aircraft left a second British airbase after a threat attributed to Iran. Separately, US prosecutors charged three men suspected of supporting an alleged plot targeting RAF Fairford; Tehran’s ambassador to Britain denied Iranian involvement in any such scheme.