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Bessent Stares Down Iranian Death Threats: ‘F the Iranian Leadership’ [WATCH]

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent delivered a blunt response Friday to death threats from Iran, saying the intimidation would not stop his effort to economically isolate the regime. Instead, he presented [1] the threats as evidence that the Trump administration’s pressure campaign was succeeding.

Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Bessent confirmed that he had relocated to a military base after threats were made against his life. He vowed to continue Operation Economic Outcast, the administration’s broad effort to cut Tehran off economically.

“F the Iranian leadership,” Bessent declared. He added, “It means what we are doing with Operation Economic Outcast is working.”

Bessent said he and other Cabinet members would not be intimidated. He questioned why he should fear such threats when American military personnel in the Persian Gulf and President Donald Trump regularly confront similar dangers.

“What we’re doing is working,” Bessent said, describing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as “like a dangerous cornered animal.”

The Treasury secretary said the Secret Service instructed him to leave his private residence because of the threats. His confirmation followed a report that the danger had moved beyond an advanced stage, prompting Bessent and his family to relocate to military housing.

“Threats against Sec. Bessent reached more than an advanced stage, which is why he and his family made the move,” a senior administration official said, according to Fox News.

The threats have drawn attention to Bessent’s central role in the administration’s economic offensive against Iran. That campaign seeks to deny Tehran the revenue used to support its military and terrorist proxies.

Bessent also blasted The Wall Street Journal for publishing an aerial photograph of his Georgetown home in January 2025. He accused the newspaper of exposing his residence despite requests that the photograph be withheld because of security concerns.

He called the decision “highly irresponsible and dangerous,” and compared the newspaper’s operation to the “TMZ of financial news.”

Operation Economic Outcast began in late August and has expanded the administration’s effort to sever Tehran’s remaining financial lifelines. At the same time, a U.S. naval blockade continues restricting Iranian oil exports.

Following a military campaign that devastated much of Iran’s conventional forces and military industrial infrastructure, Washington imposed the blockade and widened financial restrictions. Those measures are intended to prevent the regime from rebuilding its military capabilities.

Treasury has targeted financial institutions that facilitate Iranian transactions across the Middle East and elsewhere. Foreign banks and businesses have been threatened with exclusion from the U.S. financial system if they continue helping Tehran.

At the Heritage Foundation’s Forum 2026 later Friday, Bessent described the campaign’s international reach. He cited action against an Egyptian bank operating in Dubai that he said facilitated $1.8 billion for Iran during the preceding year, along with a major Turkish bank and international branches of a leading Russian bank.

Bessent said the administration had also further restricted international flights. Those restrictions limited the ability of Revolutionary Guard members to travel abroad to visit relatives, romantic partners, or gain access to financial assets held overseas.

He directly connected those measures to the threats against him, telling the audience that they were among the reasons IRGC members wanted to kill him. The threats, in other words, have not exactly inspired Bessent to ease up.

Bessent said Iran’s rial had fallen from approximately 600,000 to the dollar in March 2025 to 3 million. He also said inflation was approaching 200%, while gasoline shortages had forced motorists to wait hours for fuel.

Iran had been left without oil shipments on the water for the first time in its history as a producer, according to Bessent. He argued that financial restrictions and the naval blockade had deprived Tehran of its principal revenue source.

The blockade has halted Iranian oil exports while commercial ships continue traveling through the Strait of Hormuz under American protection. Bessent said some nights now feature more crude moving through the waterway than before the conflict.

Figures released Wednesday by U.S. Central Command showed that nearly 4,000 commercial vessels had moved approximately 1.7 billion barrels of crude through the strait under American protection. Bessent said Iranian exports had remained at zero since the blockade began.

Bessent said Iran likely could have secured better terms from Washington before last week’s midterm elections. “Now President Trump doesn’t think we need a deal, and we’re just going to keep squeezing them.”

Trump said Thursday that Washington no longer needed an agreement with Tehran. In a separate interview with Stephen A. Smith, Trump said Saudi Arabia and other Gulf allies had urged him to give the economic campaign more time instead of immediately expanding military operations.

Bessent also accused Tehran of violating a memorandum of understanding reached in Islamabad over the summer. He said that breach gave Washington another reason to resist easing its demands.

Despite Tehran’s refusal to accept Washington’s terms, Bessent predicted that worsening economic conditions would eventually drive the regime back to negotiations. “Eventually gravity is going to kick in. It’s going to be a long, cold winter for the Iranians,” he warned.

Bessent defended the campaign’s military and economic costs, saying Trump had acted where previous administrations had not. “100% it was worth it. President Trump took action that had been needed for 47 years,” Bessent declared.