The US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has relocated from his home in the Washington area to a military base after an Iranian threat against his life, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
Bessent has spearheaded a US push to cripple Iran’s economy since the start of the Middle East war, vowing “economic asphyxiation” of the Islamic republic through a web of sanctions.
The US national intelligence chief, Jay Clayton, said last month that Tehran has “substantially increased” its efforts to target Americans in the Middle East and beyond.
They include intensifying the targeting of current and former US officials such as Bessent, the NYT reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter.
Iranian plotting against US officials has reached a “more advanced stage”, according to the anonymous sources, but the severity of the threats against Bessent was unclear.
Washington ordered non-essential US embassy staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia last month, after increasing attacks from Tehran-backed Houthi fighters.
The US military has also removed some aircraft from two British bases in recent weeks amid reported threats from Iran.
Diplomatic efforts to end the war are gathering pace, with US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, saying on Tuesday that the US squeezing of Iran’s economy made further attacks unnecessary.
