Bessent's Iran post backfires; Navy robs payroll to pay for war

Talk about a boomerang. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took aim at Iran in a post on X on the 27th, local time. The post did not produce the effect he intended. Many Americans even suspected the post was an elaborate self-own, a sly dig at the United States itself.

Commenters taunted Bessent: "replace 'Iran' in the post with 'the United States'", "Find a freaking mirror", "Read this tweet back to yourself". The post has so far drawn more than 8,000 comments.

The timing makes the boomerang hurt even more. On the same day, the 27th, Britain's The Guardian published an exclusive. It reveals that the US military is mired in a severe financial crisis. The US Navy has been forced to divert money from service members' payroll account and other funds to cover combat expenses.

US Treasury Secretary Bessent publishes a post on X targeting Iran, and is hit by "boomerang-style" mockery.

In the post, Bessent declares: "As the Iranian people struggle to afford basic necessities, the corrupt regime continues to squander enormous sums abroad. Instead of funneling billions of dollars to its terrorist proxies, the regime should spend that money for its people."

Bessent's post slams Iran's "corrupt regime" for squandering billions abroad.

The post draws a flood of comments from American netizens. Many feel Bessent's words read more like a description of a warmongering United States, and they pile on the ridicule.

One netizen says Bessent wrote one word wrongly and kindly corrects it for him: change "Iran" to "the United States". That comment earns plenty of likes.

Others lash out directly: "You are LITERALLY describing America." Another writes that America is "Squandering trillions into never ending wars for the benefit of the MIC and Wall Street while the bottom 90% can’t afford to live except by taking on more debt." A third tells Bessent: "Find a freaking mirror." One netizen even suggests Bessent "Read this tweet back to yourself".

A netizen offers a "correction" to Bessent's post, replacing "Iran" with "the United States".

A netizen bluntly tells Bessent to take a good look in the mirror.

Pro-Iran accounts also weigh in. One account posts photos of the hundreds of Iranian children previously killed by US missiles. Its criticism is blunt: American taxpayers' money is being used to buy weapons that kill Iranian schoolchildren, while homeless people who cannot get enough to eat are everywhere in America's own cities. It is the United States itself that should be spending its money on people's livelihoods rather than on war.

A pro-Iran account posts photos of the hundreds of Iranian children previously killed by US missiles.

Then there is that Guardian exclusive. The paper reports obtaining a Pentagon memorandum on Navy funding. America's military operation against Iran has depleted US munitions stockpiles, and Iran's retaliatory strikes have inflicted heavy damage on multiple US military bases across the Middle East. Every part of the US military budget is now under enormous pressure.

The report says the Department of Defense has been pulling money from payroll accounts to finance combat operations. Those accounts have now developed shortfalls.

The report quotes Harlan Ullman, a retired US Navy officer: "The piggy bank is broken." Ullman sits on the National Commission on the Future of the Navy, though he stresses the interview does not represent the commission's position. One official and one Navy contractor also reveal that, owing to the funding crunch, non-emergency maintenance work at shore-based facilities has been deferred.

British media reports that the US-Iran war has drained US munitions stockpiles, putting US military budgets under enormous pressure.

Since February this year, the United States and Israel have been waging a large-scale military assault on Iran. The US Navy not only joined the initial wave of attacks but has also shouldered a prolonged maritime blockade. The White House subsequently applied to Congress for emergency funding. Approval of that request looks unlikely.

A Navy official says the service is shifting money around in every way it can: "The money for payroll was robbed to pay for overseas contingencies and is being backfilled by money that hasn't been spent. They are backfilling payroll so we get enough money in our paycheck."

The US Navy's total budget for fiscal year 2026 runs to nearly US$300 billion, according to the report. The money is divided into different purposes: personnel pay, shipbuilding, weapons procurement, and "operations and maintenance", the day-to-day running of the fleet and its bases. The law restricts the movement of funds between these appropriation items.

The funding problem has surfaced at hearings on Capitol Hill. Republican senator Susan Collins, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said on 21 July: "I’m told some military services face near-term solvency challenges." A staffer says the US Navy was among the services Collins was referring to.

A US Navy spokesperson says in a statement that maintenance and operations funds have not been exhausted: "The Department of the Navy is actively managing its resources to meet current pay obligations on time. We continue to work closely with Congress to address ongoing operational demands and sustain our personnel and readiness throughout the fiscal year."

But the real issue is what the Navy will not say out loud. Inside the US Navy, the funding shortage has long been an open secret. US defense analyst Todd Harrison of the American Enterprise Institute puts it bluntly: "They're just not speaking publicly about it."

In his view, this may be a decision made by the Pentagon's civilian leadership out of political considerations. "They don't want to look like they're damaging future military readiness over a war that is becoming increasingly a political liability."

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been lobbying Congress to pass the emergency funding. He warned in July that the department will face a serious funding gap if the money ultimately fails to arrive.

Deep Throat

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A whistleblower is dead. Britain's The Banker magazine reported on October 2 that Simon Andriesz, a former British banker, died by suicide. He was 57.

Ex-banker whistleblower Simon Andriesz dead by suicide at 57.

The Evidence Left Behind

Andriesz had spent more than 35 years in the financial markets. He previously served as a managing director at Wall Street's BGC Group. The firm's CEO at the time: Howard Lutnick, now the US Commerce Secretary.

The news instantly sent shockwaves through international opinion. The reason? According to reports, Andriesz held evidence of a key connection between Lutnick and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Andy Agathangelou, founder of the Transparency Task Force, confirmed Andriesz's death.

The organization had joined Andriesz in blowing the whistle on Lutnick's past business dealings with Epstein. Andriesz tracked down a 2018 email chain using Lutnick's initials.

Andriesz had already taken his story to the BBC. He said he discovered evidence that Lutnick failed to disclose his business relationship with Epstein. He also found a 2018 email in which Lutnick and Epstein discussed the prospects of a digital advertising startup they were both involved in.

The BBC aired the program in July under its "File 4 Investigation" banner. Its title: "The Epstein Files: Lutnick, the Royals and the British Whistleblower."

A congressional oversight committee said at the time it would step in and investigate. But the White House swiftly rejected the reports.

From 2005 Denial to a Senate Reversal

Lutnick's story had a shelf life. He had stated publicly that he cut ties with Jeffrey Epstein back in 2005.

Then the unsealed documents told a different story. They showed that in 2012 Lutnick arranged for his entire family to visit Epstein's private Caribbean island for lunch.

The proof was ironclad, and it forced a reversal. At a Senate hearing this February, Lutnick changed his story and admitted he had indeed lunched with Epstein: "I did have lunch with him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was ... We had lunch on the island. That is true. For an hour."

Lutnick forced to admit Epstein lunch at Senate hearing.

Andriesz had already tried the official channels. He reported the inside information to the FBI in 2020 and 2021, only to be coldly brushed off.

The price was devastating. He was fired for exposing his former employer's financial problems, then mired in lengthy litigation. The enormous pressure wrecked his physical and mental health and ruined his family's finances.

But the record has its limits. No evidence to date shows Lutnick was involved in any of Epstein's actual crimes.

The Epstein Death List Grows Longer

Key figures in the Epstein saga keep dying by "suicide," one after another. Jeffrey Epstein himself, the case's central character, was found "hanged" in his cell at New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center in August 2019. Jean-Luc Brunel followed in 2022. The famed French modeling agent, branded an "accomplice" and suspected of recruiting and raping underage girls for Epstein, hanged himself in a Paris prison while awaiting trial.

Epstein case figures keep dying by 'suicide'.

Virginia Giuffre also took her own life in April 2025, dying on a farm in Australia at the age of 41. She was the earliest key victim and witness to publicly accuse Epstein and Britain's Prince Andrew of sexual assault.

The "Epstein-related death list" circulating online and among the public runs to more than 20 names. Now yet another "whistleblower" meets the same end, pulling the case back into the spotlight.