‘Rats are leaving the ship’: Scott Bessent says U.S. Treasury has new goal as ‘economic chaos’ in Iran becomes ‘crazy’
As President Donald Trump is set to meet Wednesday with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss negotiations with Iran, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says “the rats are leaving the ship” amid economic chaos in the Islamic Republic, and his office will focus on getting money back for the Iranian people that the regime has been wiring out “like crazy.”
Appearing on “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo on the Fox News Channel, Bessent slammed previous Democrat presidents for giving Iran large amounts of U.S. currency in recent years.
“What doesn’t work is handing the regime pallets of cash like we saw in Democratic administrations,” Bessent said. “Last March, President Trump instructed me to use the authorities of Treasury to put maximum pressure on Iran.”
“This is the sanctioning of oil sales, tracking down the money. And what we saw because of that, in December, one of the largest banks in Iran collapsed. The central bank had to bail them out and they ended up with massive inflation which has led to economic chaos.
“Their currency has collapsed. And I can tell you, Maria, what we are seeing, is the rats are leaving the ship. The Iranian regime is wiring out money like crazy. And what we are going to do at Treasury is we are going to get that money back for the Iranian people when there is a solution to this problem.”
WATCH:
Scott Bessent just called out the Democrats for handing the Iranian regime “pallets of cash.”
He said President Trump authorized him to put MAXIMUM pressure on Iran — and because of that, banks are collapsing, their currency is in free fall, and the “rats are leaving the ship.”… pic.twitter.com/X3Ma54LBMf
— Overton (@overton_news) February 8, 2026
Bessent also commented on the U.S. economy, saying, “Inflation is, in fact, coming down” at 2.1%, with “strong growth, stocks at a record high and the lowest crime rate in over 100 years.”
“Democrats don’t want to talk about that. They want to hoot and holler,” Bessent said.
.@SecScottBessent: “Inflation down, strong growth, stocks at a record high, and the lowest [murder] rate in over 100 years — Democrats don’t want to talk about that. They want to hoot and holler.” pic.twitter.com/sglSQScS5z
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 8, 2026
Also appearing with Bartiromo was U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., a member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, who called the slaughter of Iranian citizens by the Islamic regime “heartbreaking.”
“Their region just absolutely massacred thousands and thousands and thousands of their young people,” Fetterman said. “I was the only Democrat that actually cheered and pushed to stroke their nuclear facilities last year and they were absolutely successful. And we can’t ever allow Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb.”
“Just a couple days ago on my socials, I put out I don’t … see any value in these kinds of negotiations, and Iran just declared saying, ‘Hey absolutely. We’re gonna continue to enrich uranium’ and that’s their goal. They want to go back and try to acquire a nuclear weapon. And that’s why I would be a no on the Iranian Powers Act because the president should have the freedom to have another surgical strike to make sure they do not acquire those kinds of nuclear weapons.”
U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, added she would like to see new oil sanctions on Iran.
“This is no time to offer lifelines to the regime,” she told Bartiromo. ‘This is the time to enforce red lines.”
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