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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent moved to a military base following threats from Iran, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The move, first reported by The New York Times , marks the latest instance of a Cabinet official reportedly moving to military housing.
The Atlantic previously reported that now-chief of staff Stephen Miller and former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem lived in military housing. The New York Times has also reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth live in military housing.
The source familiar with Bessent’s move told NBC News that the concerns arose after The Wall Street Journal published a story that included a photo that allowed the secretary’s D.C. home to be geolocated.
After the photo’s publication, the source said that “security concerns began to increase which have now forced the Secretary to relocate to a military base for his safety.”
“The news media has an obligation to act responsibly amid growing threats against public officials,” the source added.
NBC News has reached out to The Wall Street Journal and its parent company, Dow Jones, for comment.
A spokesperson for the Treasury Department said that Bessent “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.” The department has not revealed the nature of the threats that led to the move.
Iranian threats have also led to the U.S. relocating military aircrafts. Just days ago, a U.S. official confirmed to NBC that several military aircraft were moved from a U.S. base in the United Kingdom amid threats from Iran.
Last month, two men were charged with allegedly trying to help Iran in the United Kingdom after a security incident near the same U.S. base. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said at the time that there were strong indications that Iran played a role in the incident.
This summer, President Donald Trump took a secret flight out of Turkey amid security concerns over the war with Iran. Asked if he knew of credible threats against him from Iran, Trump said there was “a threat all the time” and that he is “No. 1 on their list.”
Julie Tsirkin is a correspondent covering Capitol Hill and the White House.
Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner is a senior producer for the NBC News White House unit.
Megan Brand is a politics reporter for NBC News.
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The severity and nature of the threat against Scott Bessent remains unclear
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been moved from his Washington DC home to a military base after Iran-linked threats to his life, according to US media reports.
CBS, the BBC's US partner, said the relocation came after a photo of Bessent's home was published in the Wall Street Journal.
Bessent has been at the forefront of efforts to isolate Iran economically through sanctions and a wider economic blockade.
While the exact nature of the threats against Bessent remain unclear, US intelligence has warned that Iran has "substantially increased" efforts to target Americans, including US officials.
"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.
Georgetown is an affluent part of Washington that is home to a number of government officials and prominent residents.
Those security concerns, the source added, prompted authorities to move Bessent to a military base in the area.
In a statement, a Treasury Department spokesperson said only that Bessent "will not be deterred" by threats and "remains committed" to the US effort to pressure Iran's economy.
The BBC has contacted the White House for comment.
In September, Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton warned that Iran has "substantially increased" efforts to target Americans.
The New York Times has reported that the Iranian effort includes the targeting of current and former US officials. One source told the newspaper this has "reached a more advanced stage".
Other US officials reportedly on Iran's list of potential targets include former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former National Security Advisor John Bolton and Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Milley and Bolton's security teams were taken away by the Trump administration shortly after he returned to office last year.
Bessent is one of a number of administration officials that live on military bases. The White House's new chief of staff, Stephen Miller, was moved to a base in late 2025 - before the conflict with Iran began.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both live on military bases, as did former Attorney General Pam Bondi and former intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard.
The US and Israel launched an air campaign against Iran in February, killing its leader and prompting the regime in Tehran to retaliate with strikes on US allies across the region and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of the world's oil and gas usually travels.
In June, the US and Iran reached a preliminary agreement to end the war and reopen the strait, but it collapsed within weeks after Iranian attacks on shipping resumed and the US reinstated a blockade targeting Iranian ports.
Trump says more US attacks on Iran 'highly unlikely'
Iran trying harder to target US personnel in Middle East, intelligence chief warns
Three Iran-backed suspects plotted attacks including RAF Fairford incident, US says
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LONDON — The United States has moved military aircraft from an airbase in the United Kingdom amid threats from Iran.
A U.S. official confirmed to NBC News that several military aircraft had left RAF Mildenhall as the security posture there had increased.
They were operating under “enhanced force protection measures,” the official said. They would not speculate on the exact nature of the threat that appears to have led to ramped up security.
At least eight air refueling tankers and three Ospreys left the base in Suffolk, eastern England, on Monday, flight tracking data showed.
Some of the tankers, Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers, were relocated to airbases in Germany and Spain, with one moved to the area of Glasgow Prestwick Airport in Scotland. The Ospreys were moved to nearby RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.
It comes weeks after the U.S. withdrew bombers from another base in Britain , RAF Fairford, after police foiled a suspected terror plot linked to Iran. The U.S. has used bases in the U.K. to strike the Islamic Republic.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report on this week’s movements and said the evacuation came following a threat from Iran, citing people familiar with the matter. It said the exact nature of the threat was not yet known and remained under discussion by U.S. officials.
“We take proactive measures to ensure our aircraft, our people, and our installations remain safe and secure,” a U.S. official told NBC News.
“U.S. Air Force aircraft rotate between installations and operating locations for a variety of reasons including training and real world requirement,” a U.S. European Command official said. “U.S. military aircraft are hosted in accordance with access, basing, and overflight agreements with our Allies and partners. Due to operations security, we will not provide further information on movement of assets,” the European Command official added.
A spokesperson for the U.K.’s Ministry of Defense said it does “not routinely comment on the activity of other nations.”
“Aircraft and other assets move regularly according to operational requirements,” the spokesperson said.
It comes weeks after the U.S. pulled aircraft from RAF Fairford following reports of a possible Iranian drone attack, two U.S. officials previously told NBC News. That move came in the wake of an investigation into a possible planned terrorist attack at that base, located in Gloucestershire.
Five men were detained on Sept. 27 after three suspicious vans were spotted traveling toward RAF Fairford. Other arrests followed and two men were charged under the National Security Act.
The incident, which attracted huge international attention, remains largely unexplained although British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the activity was likely to have been coordinated in Iran.
Though Tehran has denied involvement in any plot against RAF Fairford, its powerful Revolutionary Guard warned in July that any base used to launch attacks against Iranian territory was a legitimate target.
Iran has vowed retaliation for any renewal of the American-Israeli war against it and has threatened to expand its response beyond the Middle East.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that Washington had addressed concerns around reported threats from Tehran against American diplomats overseas by “moving people away from the threat.”
“Obviously, we’re always worried about the safety and security of our personnel and their families overseas,” Rubio said. “And so, when we see anything that could pose a potential threat beyond a certain threshold, we’re going to address it.”
Citing new “momentum” in negotiations to end the war, President Donald Trump on Monday downplayed the prospect of new U.S. attacks.
“Iran militarily is effectively over,” Trump said following a meeting with Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.
Further U.S. attacks “won’t be necessary” at this point, but Washington remains “locked and loaded” should circumstances change, Trump told reporters at the White House.
Courtney Kube is a correspondent covering national security and the military for the NBC News Investigative Unit.
Matthew Mulligan is a senior reporter for the NBC News Social Newsgathering team based in London.
Chantal Da Silva reports on world news for NBC News Digital and is based in London.
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