US Looking to Seize Iranian Defectors’ Money: Bessent

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on March 19 that the United States is moving to seize funds transferred abroad by Iranian defectors, as the ongoing conflict with Iran enters its third week. Speaking in the Oval Office during a meeting between President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Bessent said defections were occurring across multiple levels of the Iranian government and military. “So we are seeing the defections at all levels as they’re starting to sense what’s going on with the regime. It doesn’t get reported here in the U.S. very well, but we are trouncing them from the air, and the regime will probably collapse within itself,” Bessent said....