WASHINGTON — A wave of Iran-linked security threats against American and British targets escalated sharply this week, with the U.S. government relocating a top cabinet official, moving military aircraft out of England, and unsealing criminal charges against three operatives accused of plotting a string of attacks.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has relocated from his home near Washington to a military base after officials received a specific threat against his life tied to Iran, according to multiple reports. Bessent has been a prominent public face of the administration's sanctions campaign against Tehran, and officials treated the threat as credible enough to move him under heavier protection rather than rely on his usual security detail.

The Bessent threat came the same week the U.S. reportedly moved aircraft off a second air base in the United Kingdom, following a security incident at another British base roughly a month earlier. Defense officials have not detailed what prompted the latest relocation, but it follows a pattern: U.S. and U.K. forces have grown increasingly wary of Iranian retaliation at British installations since Washington's air war with Tehran disrupted the broader region earlier this year.

THE THREATS AREN'T ISOLATED — THEY'RE PART OF THE SAME CAMPAIGN.

Separately, federal prosecutors unveiled an indictment against three operatives accused of acting on behalf of Iran in a sprawling plot that included a planned attack on a U.K. air base and more than a dozen attempted attacks across the United States and Europe. Prosecutors described a coordinated effort rather than a single plot, consistent with what U.S. officials have described as an intensifying Iranian campaign of retaliation against Western targets since the February air war.

The developments add to a string of Iran-related security stories in recent days, including a French investigation that blamed Tehran for a cyberattack that knocked out refrigeration systems at grocery chains, and reporting that diplomatic talks between the U.S., Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi this week showed no sign of progress — talks that were themselves the first since the Iran war froze broader diplomacy.

U.S. officials have not said publicly whether they believe the threat against Bessent, the aircraft relocation and the indicted plot are directly connected, but current and former national security officials say the cluster of incidents points to an Iranian leadership determined to strike back at American and British interests wherever it can reach them. The Treasury Department declined to detail the specific nature of the threat against Bessent, citing an active investigation.

Security around other senior officials has also been tightened in recent weeks, though the White House has not confirmed which additional figures, if any, have been placed under enhanced protection.