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Bessent pulled from interview to Situation Room, comes back shaken

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: News websites
  • 13 Mar 2026 20:27
  • 5 Shares
3 Min Read

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was abruptly summoned to the White House Situation Room during a live interview.

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  • Bessent pulled from live interview to Situation Room, comes back shook
    United States Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent listens to questions from members of the House Financial Services Committee during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, the United States, on February 4, 2026. (AP)

United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was abruptly called to the White House Situation Room by US President Donald Trump on Thursday while participating in a live television interview, highlighting the intensifying focus within Washington over the ongoing war on Iran.

Bessent was speaking with Sky News presenter Wilfred Frost when an off-camera voice interrupted the broadcast.

“The president wants you right away,” the voice said.

In which Treasury Sec Scott Bessent is summoned to the Situation Room mid-interview to be strong-armed by Trump, Narco, et al into pledging his teenager’s life to an Iranian deployment like some bourgeois Canaanite firstborn sacrifice to get Mammon on the Burger Reich’s side pic.twitter.com/NnkiwMj4FM

— ParaPower Mapping (@KlonnyPin_Gosch) March 13, 2026

The treasury secretary immediately looked around the room as an aide rushed to remove his microphone. Bessent left the interview at 10:22 am and returned nearly two hours later at 12:07 pm.

Upon his return, Frost remarked on the unusual interruption.

“Mr. Secretary, it’s a first, I’m sure a last as well, that an interviewee has been pulled away to go to the Situation Room,” the journalist said before asking whether the president appeared stressed.

Bessent initially stumbled while responding, but insisted the president was calm.

“Uh, no, the president is in great spirits,” Bessent said, adding, “The Iranian mission is proceeding well ahead of schedule.”

He added that he had such confidence in the administration’s leadership that he would entrust his own child to them, praising both Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth.

“I would trust my child’s life in their hands,” he said, claiming that one of his teenage children is considering military service.

Strait of Hormuz tensions discussed

During the interview, Frost questioned Bessent about the deteriorating situation in the Strait of Hormuz, a key global oil transit route where tanker traffic has been severely restricted amid the conflict.

Bessent dismissed reports suggesting that Iran had deployed naval mines in the strategic shipping lane. When asked whether the issue had been discussed during the Situation Room meeting, Bessent responded evasively.

“We were discussing a plethora of things,” he said.

Pressed further on whether escort operations for tankers had been considered, the treasury secretary said he expects the US Navy and an international coalition to begin escorting vessels through the strait once it becomes “militarily possible”.

When Frost again asked if the matter had been raised in the Situation Room, Bessent replied tersely, “Your words, not mine.”

War costs mount for Washington

Bessent also admitted to the growing financial burden of the war with Iran, revealing during the interview that the conflict has already cost the United States around $11 billion.

When asked whether there was any cost threshold that might lead him to warn Trump the war had become economically unsustainable, Bessent rejected the possibility outright.

“Absolutely not,” he said.

Read more: 6 US soldiers killed in US KC-135 crash over Iraq

  • Scott Bessent
  • Iran
  • United States
  • Washington
  • Israel
  • war on Iran
  • Strait of Hormuz

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