Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was called to the Situation Room by President Trump mid-way through a TV interview on Thursday.
Bessent was being asked a question by Wilfred Frost of Sky News in the UK when an off-camera voice called for the treasury secretary.
“The president wants you right away,” the voice said.
Bessent began rapidly looking around the room as an aide rushed to remove his microphone. He left the interview at 10.22 am and returned almost two hours later at 12.07 pm.
“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,” Frost said upon Bessent’s return.
“How’s the president? Is he stressed?” Frost continued.
Bessent began stuttering while answering Frost’s question.
“Uh, no, the president is in great spirits,” Bessent began. “The Iranian mission is proceeding well ahead of schedule and I have to tell you, well, that I have a teenage…teenager who is considering military service.”
Praising both President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Bessent added, “I would trust my child’s life in their hands.
Bessent and his husband, John Freeman, have two children, Cole and Caroline.
Following the interruption, Frost asked Bessent about tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz.
The flow of oil tankers through the shipping lane, one of the busiest in the world, has been severely restricted amid the ongoing conflict.
However, Bessent told Frost that he believes the Islamic Republic’s forces have not placed mines in the Strait of Hormuz as reports have suggested.
“And was that what you were just discussing in the situation room?” Frost asked.
Bessent replied, “We were discussing a plethora of things.”
Then, the secretary said that he believes the U.S. Navy and an international coalition will escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz as soon as it is “militarily possible.”
“And that came up just now in the Situation Room?” Frost asked.
“Your words, not mine,” Bessent responded.
The United States and Israel’s war with Iran began on February 28, almost two weeks ago.
On the first day of the conflict, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a strike on Tehran. He has since been replaced by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei.
During his Sky News interview, Bessent confessed that the war with Iran has already cost the United States around $11 billion.
When asked by Frost whether there was a price at which he would confront Trump and say that the war had become unaffordable, the treasury secretary was blunt.
“Absolutely not,” he said.
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
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