Bessent and UK’s Reeves at Odds Over Iran War Before Meeting

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told British media that the Iran war is worth a “small bit of economic pain,” ahead of what is likely to be a tense meeting with his UK counterpart, Rachel Reeves.

Bessent said he “was less concerned about short-term forecasts” than the security provided by stopping Iran from acquiring an atomic bomb. “I wonder what the hit to global GDP would be if a nuclear weapon hit London,” Bessent told the BBC, on the eve of an expected encounter with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on Wednesday in Washington.