Iran's threats push Bessent, other Trump officials onto military bases

Iran's threats push Bessent, other Trump officials onto military bases

Josh Meyer

The U.S. war against Iran has driven Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent out of his Washington-area home and onto a military base, putting him on a growing list of senior Trump administration figures under U.S. protection against alleged retaliatory threats from Tehran.

Bessent confirmed the move Nov. 13 in an interview with CNBC, saying Iran is trying to retaliate against him – and other Trump administration officials he did not name – for pressing a war-related economic sanctions effort known as "Operation Economic Outcast."

“I’m not going to be cowered that they have initiated death threats against me," Bessent said. "The other members of the cabinet – we’re not going to be cowered. And it means what we are doing with Operation Economic Outcast is working.”

“President Trump constantly receives death threats,” Bessent also said, adding that the Iran military’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, is acting “like a dangerous cornered animal.”

“So I follow the Secret Service instructions and have moved from my home to a military base,” Bessent said.

Attorney General Todd Blanche has also been living on a military installation in the Washington area for months, according to three sources cited by Fox News Digital. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller have also moved into military housing, according to news reports

The relocations – which come as the U.S. war continues into its ninth month – underscore something U.S. national security officials have feared for decades: that the Islamic republic has a global network of assassins, terrorists and other operatives that the IRGC can – and does – deploy against foreign adversaries abroad and on U.S. soil.

“The Iranians have shown both in Europe but also in the U.S. that this is a clear and present danger to U.S. officials,” said Magnus Ranstorp, an Iran expert at the Swedish Defense University who has been studying its global operations since the 1990s. “They have been targeting them and they are using proxies, including organized crime elements, to hit senior officials in retribution” for the U.S. war against Iran and other adversary actions by U.S. allies around the world.

Lina Khatib, an Iranian military expert and visiting scholar at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative, said Iran is using proxy networks, including some directly connected to the IRGC, to conduct and plan terrorist activities worldwide, including in the U.S.

Despite efforts to counter them by the United States and its allies, Iran “continues to have the capability to do so,” Khatib said. “As military, economic, and diplomatic pressure on Iran mounts, the activation of networks is one way in which the Tehran regime is trying to pressure its adversaries.” 

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A ring of wind spinning about 19 miles above the Arctic has started breaking apart weeks earlier than ever recorded - the cold it was holding in place could spill into the US and Europe within weeks

A ring of wind spinning about 19 miles above the Arctic, far higher than any passenger jet flies, has started breaking apart weeks earlier than ever recorded, and forecasters say the cold it was holding in place could spill into the US and Europe within weeks

The Watchers Staff

Every winter, a vast ring of wind forms high above the North Pole. It circles the Arctic about 19 miles up, roughly three times higher than a passenger jet cruises, and it helps keep the coldest air of the season locked over the far north.

This November, that ring has faltered. Its winds slowed almost to a stop and, around November 10, briefly turned around and blew the other way. Nothing like it has been recorded this early in the season.

That ring is the stratospheric polar vortex. It sits in the stratosphere, the layer of the atmosphere above where most weather happens. Each autumn, as the Arctic falls into months of darkness, the air above it cools sharply and the vortex strengthens, with winds normally blowing west to east at well over 100 mph.

A strong, steady vortex acts like a fence around the Arctic’s coldest air. When the vortex weakens or splits, that fence can buckle, and lobes of frigid air can push south toward North America, Europe or Asia.

In late October, the vortex’s winds were close to normal. Within days, they collapsed. Measured at a standard height and latitude, they dropped from about 50 mph to about 12 mph in just over a week, then fell to zero and reversed.

That reversal is the official marker of a major sudden stratospheric warming, a rapid heating of the air high above the pole. These events usually happen from mid-winter to early spring. Before this year, the earliest on record were in late November, in 1968 and 2025. This one came weeks earlier than any of them.

Conflicting Signals as Region on Edge

CENTCOM Tells Israel to Brace For Impact As Fears of Renewed Iran War Emerge

Garrison Vance

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has informed Israel to be ready for renewed hostilities with Iran, even as U.S. President Donald Trump has ruled out further strikes against the Islamic Republic ^[1].

The report detailed Thursday, Nov. 12, by Israel's Kan 11 news channel said CENTCOM recently told Israeli military representatives stationed in the U.S. "to prepare for the possibility of renewed fighting in the near future" ^[2]. Despite this, CENTCOM dismissed the reports as "mere speculation" ^[1].

A third U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, is heading toward the Middle East, according to reports. Experts have suggested the carrier's pending arrival could signal a new surge in military action, though no official decision has been announced. Separately, CENTCOM has reportedly requested the deployment of the Army's Dark Eagle hypersonic missile to the Middle East for potential use against Iran, part of a broader set of military options presented to Trump ^[3].

Conflicting Signals as Region on Edge

Official denials and reported warnings present conflicting signals about the likelihood of renewed conflict. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday, Nov. 8 that Israel's Iran "mission is still not complete," as Washington and Tel Aviv continue to prepare for the resumption of major strikes against the Islamic Republic ^[11]. "With regard to Iran, the mission is still not complete," Katz said, according to AFP ^[11].

U.S. military movements continue, and Trump has said forces remain ready, while also emphasizing ongoing talks. The State Department on Tuesday night, Nov. 10, renewed its warning that American citizens should be prepared for hostilities in the Middle East, namely Saudi Arabia ^[12]. "Americans currently in the Middle East should exercise heightened vigilance due to the increased threat of armed attacks by Iranian-supported Houthis and Iranian efforts to target U.S. government officials in the region," said the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh ^[12].

No further comment was immediately available from CENTCOM or the Israel Defense Forces regarding the reported communications. The situation remains fluid, with officials and analysts continuing to assess the prospect of a resumption of hostilities.

The Ancient Evil Of Antisemitism

From Carlson To Mamdani, Americans Must Reject All Modern Renditions Of The Ancient Evil Of Antisemitism

Mike Pompeo

Earlier this week, as the world commemorated the 88th anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogroms, a consortium of DSA-linked groups in Philadelphia organized a boycott of Jewish businesses and a protest in the heart of the city. It was, in the words of Governor Josh Shapiro, “blatant antisemitic targeting of Jewish-owned restaurants on the anniversary of Kristallnacht,” which could have only one aim: to fan the flames of hatred and impose collective punishment on the Jewish people in the City of Brotherly Love.

Thankfully, a grassroots movement quickly emerged to support the boycotted businesses, which are now seeing lines out the door as Jews and non-Jews stand in solidarity against these terroristic tactics. But the fact that such an antisemitic campaign – timed to coincide with one of the most infamous precursors to the Holocaust – could gain traction in a major American city is highly disturbing.

This is a time of testing for the Jewish people, both in America and around the world. The explosion of antisemitism that followed the October 7 atrocities has brought antisemitic violence, harassment, and intimidation to our streets. The situation is far more virulent in Europe, where social cohesion is under greater strain – but even in America, we are seeing politicians excuse, amplify, and even encourage mass displays of antisemitism that have inevitably resulted in a rising tide of violence against our Jewish community.

The Jewish people have been here before, and have responded to the millennia of persecution with incredible resilience. That is why despite this vile trend, I firmly believe that the future is bright for America’s Jewish community and for the people of Israel.

John Adams famously said, “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” As the world’s oldest conspiracy theory, antisemitism is the antithesis of a “fact,” though it is incredibly stubborn. We must be unequivocal in standing against the modern incarnations of this ancient evil – or surrender our hard-won values and freedoms to destruction and decay.

Netanyahu urges Eisenkot to hold talks ‘without preconditions’ on ‘unity’ coalition that includes Haredim

Netanyahu urges Eisenkot to hold talks ‘without preconditions’ on ‘unity’ coalition that includes Haredim

ToI Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls for his chief political rival, Gadi Eisenkot, to enter what he calls a unity government of all Jewish-majority parties, arguing that a government relying on Arab parties will not be able to confront the Iranian threat.

In a video statement, Netanyahu claims the security briefing he gave to Eisenkot on Thursday “only strengthened my understanding of how essential it is to form at this time a national unity government, a government that will include all parties that support the existence of Israel as the state of the Jewish people.”

“Let us go into the room, without preconditions,” Netanyahu says, “put aside all disputes and all boycotts, and reach agreements for Israel’s security and future, including on the issue of conscription, which can be solved together with representatives of the Haredi public.”

Eisenkot, not Netanyahu, was given the mandate to form a government.

Netanyahu says Iran is working to restore its nuclear weapons program and will use the bomb against Israel. He asserts that the two operations against Iran over the past year “removed the immediate danger of annihilation from upon us.”

“We must remove this existential threat from us once and for all,” Netanyahu says.

“A narrow government, or a government that relies on supporters of terrorism, will not be able to achieve this tremendous challenge,” he continues, returning to his oft-expressed argument that the two Arab parties support Hamas. “But a national unity government will be able to achieve this in time, and ensure Israel’s security for many years.”

Netanyahu, who gave an acrimonious address at the Knesset inauguration last week, says a national unity government will lead to national reconciliation.

“The necessary response to those who deliberately walked out during the singing of ‘Hatikvah’ is to establish the government of hope,” says Netanyahu, “the national unity government.”