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Scott Bessent: “Iran is degraded.”

Featuring: Scott Bessent, Republican | Secretary of the Treasury | National

Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King

Published March 13, 2026 | Video Starts at 51:28

Is America out over its skis in the Middle east right now? Absolutely not. As I said, we are the every day we are moving ahead of plan and Iran is degraded. There was a message from the bunker from the new Ayatollah. We haven't seen him, so let's see if we see him. You're suggesting he's no longer alive? (51:28–51:31)

CLAIM

Asserts that Iran's capabilities or influence have been reduced.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Scott Bessent

“The leaders confirmed that it would in fact be a 400 million barrel release, which is the largest in history.”
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“The US B2S had to do a 37-hour round trip rather than a three, three and a half hour round trip.”
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“We're operating now with a global 10% tariff.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 42:43-42:48
“The Supreme Court ruled that the President does not have the ability to use IPA tariffs.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 43:09-43:16
“Section 301 which President Trump used in his first term has been challenged more than 4,000 times in court.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 43:19-43:29
“The U.S. treasury market is the deepest, most liquid and most, most solid in the world.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 04:57-05:04
“We are the guardians of the treasury market and we try to be very transparent.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 05:07-05:16
“We also try to make sure that the market itself is very resilient on an operational and a settlement basis.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 05:15-05:23
“The market is smoothly functioning, settling well [during the Iranian conflict].”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 05:23-05:35
“In 2011, right after Fukushima and terrible tragedy, tsunami, tidal wave, near nuclear meltdown. Easy to remember, it's 3, 11, 11 when that…”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 11:51-12:10
“The Japanese government demanded that the nuclear reactors be switched off.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 12:13-12:19
“If one was thinking of being short the yen, you were pushing against a very, very large current account surplus, about 3% of GDP.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 12:20-12:31
“When the Japanese switched off the nuclear reactors, they had to start importing more fossil fuels. And it took the current account to a…”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 12:31-12:42
“A contact in Japan, great fellow, Funabashi Son, Japanese journalist, thinker, policy person, called and said, there's this fellow called…”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 12:51-13:20
“I believe there were three board seats opening on the bank of Japan. Bank of Japan had been a group of deflationist or disinflationists. So…”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 13:23-13:41
“Abenomics, all three arrows have been a fantastic success.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 15:51-15:56
“There's now mobility among labor in terms of people switching jobs [in Japan].”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 16:25-16:32
“They've done a fantastic job of restructuring the economy [in Japan].”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 16:31-16:36
“President Trump's energy policies have insulated the US quite a bit.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 20:41-20:47
“There are in fact tankers coming through now, Iranian tankers, I believe some Chinese flag tankers have come through, so we know that they…”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 23:15-23:28
“My belief that as soon as it is militarily possible, the US Navy and perhaps with an international coalition will be escorting vessels…”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 23:42-23:55
“It is a prospect as soon as we have complete control of the skies and degrading their. They have no air force, the Navy is sunk, literally…”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 24:15-24:32
“The public number that was released today was about 11 billion thus far.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 25:45-25:50
“US Treasuries had their best year since 2022 and we were the only G7 bond market with lower yields last year.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 26:34-26:47
“We gave a 30 day waiver because the Russian barrels are on the water and it is a quick source of for the Indian refineries.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 27:11-27:28
“We had a near failed narco state in the Western Hemisphere.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 28:22-28:28
“President Trump has made it clear that we want to protect our neighborhood.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 28:27-28:32
“We have a substantial movement over the past few years of our Latin American neighbors from many from very far left ala, Bolivia, Chile…”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 28:32-28:49
“Bolivia had closed their airspace to US military aircraft.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 29:02-29:08
“Now Bolivia's our ally.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 29:07-29:11
“Chile had briefly gone far left. Now that they are right, the President elect has already said that he wants to be an ally of the US again.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 29:11-29:25
“The military operation here was to keep [Iran] from being able to ring fence with with their missile capabilities, the ability to create an…”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 29:40-29:53
“The Fed is worried about maybe the energy component triggering inflationary expectations.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 30:49-30:57
“If the oil price was below 60 at the beginning of the year, once this conflict is over and resolved in favor of the U.S. I think there is a…”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 31:20-31:37
“I actually believe that the bank of England's QE policy was better than the Fed's because I think extraordinary measures should only happen…”
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“The Bank of England stepped in twice in the past few years, once during the early days of COVID.”
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“The Fed continued buying for years afterwards [after the Bank of England's intervention].”
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“That's one of the things that got us the great inflation 22 and 23.”
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“Shadow banking is not having a systemic problem.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 39:07-39:18
“We are monitoring any relationships between the regulated entities [and the shadow banking system].”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 39:18-39:24
“Belatedly, the Prime Minister offered to put resources in the region.”
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“Section 122 right now is still at 10.”
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“We believe that the Supreme Court will rule in our favor.”
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“The G7 leaders were all pretty much rallying around what the US is doing.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 45:48-45:55
“The US Navy, perhaps with an international coalition, will be escorting vessels through [the Strait of Hormuz].”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 46:04-46:18
“We're seeing what may be an international coalition in terms of the Straits of Hormuz.”
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“Our military is more powerful and more lethal and more respected than it's ever been.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 48:19-48:27
“The US Leads the world and we just keep pulling away [in technology].”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 48:26-48:34
“With this AI boom, we're going to have over 70 or 80% of all the compute in the world.”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 48:34-48:40
“We are moving ahead of plan [in the Middle East].”
Scott Bessent: Inside Trump's Treasury; War Costs; & Why Bond Market is King | Uploaded March 13, 2026 | 51:24-51:27