Bessent says Iranian officials 'rats in a sewer pipe,' unaware of worsening crisis

Résumé détaillé

US President Donald Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Nov. 12 that it "would be a defeat" if Iran's rulers were still in power when he leaves office. Schrader said she was…

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent compared Iranian leaders to rats hiding in sewers, saying their isolation in underground bunkers had left them unaware of deteriorating conditions across the country.

"A lot of the leadership, they're like rats in a sewer pipe," Bessent told Fox News on Sunday. "They are in underground bunkers, and they don't see how bad it is up top."

Bessent predicted Iran's economy would contract by 25 percent between March 2026 and March 2027, comparing the decline with the 22 percent contraction he said Russia experienced over three years following the Soviet Union's collapse.

"To put that in perspective, the Russian economy went down 22% over three years when the Soviet Union collapsed," Bessent said. "So this is one of the fastest collapses in history."

He also said US restrictions had effectively trapped Iranian officials inside their country, preventing them from traveling abroad. "They can't fly to London to see their family, Paris to see their girlfriends, Geneva to see their money," he said.

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