Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Iranian leader who coordinated an assassination attempt on President Donald Trump has been killed in U.S. airstrikes.
Hegseth did not name the individual at the Pentagon briefing Wednesday, but said “the leader of the unit who attempted to assassinate President Trump has been hunted down and killed.”
“Iran tried to kill President Trump and President Trump got the last laugh,” Hegseth added.
During the 2024 presidential race, Trump’s campaign was warned by national security officials that Iran was targeting him, and had multiple kill teams inside the U.S. The Iran threat dates back to a U.S. airstrike, ordered by Trump in 2020, that killed General Qasem Soleimani, the country’s most powerful military commander.
Hegseth said Tuesday’s attack killed an Iranian leader who was “part of the target list.”
“We’ve known for a long time that Iran had intentions on trying to kill President Trump and or other U.S. officials,” Hegseth said. “And while that was not the focus of the effort by any stretch of the imagination, in fact, never raised by the president or anybody else, I ensured, and others ensured that those who were responsible for that were eventually part of the target list.”
Hegseth opened Wednesday’s briefing by boasting of the “incredible” results of the joint U.S.- Israel bombing campaign on Iran. The defense secretary detailed how an Iranian warship was sank by an American submarine, and claimed that the U.S. will soon “have complete control” of Iranian skies.
“We are only four days into this, and the results have been incredible, historic really ... only the United States of America could lead this,” Hegseth said.
“I stand before you today with one unmistakable message about Operation Eric Fury – America is winning decisively, devastatingly and without mercy. They are toast, and they know it.”
Six U.S. service members have been killed since the operation began Friday. The death toll in Iran is at least 1,045 people, an Iranian government agency said Wednesday.
Hegseth was joined by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair General Dan Caine, who referenced a large map positioned next to him on the podium titled, “Operation EPIC FURY Timeline – First 100 Hours,” depicting where U.S. and Israeli strikes have taken place.
The strikes have targeted command and control facilities of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including underground facilities said to be tied to the country’s nuclear program. Missiles also struck the compound of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader and some members of his family were killed in the strikes Saturday, with his wife succumbing to injuries on Monday. The Israel Defense Forces said 40 Iranian commanders were also killed in the attack.
Gen. Caine said that U.S. forces have hit over 2,000 targets and destroyed more than 20 Iranian naval vessels, adding that the next stage is to expand deeper “inland” into Iran.
The defense secretary also announced that a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship with a torpedo in international waters and showed video of the attack. He claimed the Tuesday night strike on the warship was the first such attack on an enemy since the Second World War.
“The Iranian navy rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf,” Hegseth said.
Caine paid tribute to the six U.S. service members killed in an Iranian drone strike at a command center in Kuwait Sunday.
They include Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor who was just days away from returning home to her family; Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; and Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, lowa.
The names of two other service members are being withheld until their families are informed, Caine said.
Hegseth was asked by a reporter about an attack on a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran Sunday which killed more than 160 people, including many children.
“All I know is we’re investigating that,” Hegseth said. “We of course never target civilian targets, but we’re taking a look and investigating that.”
Caine said the operation was launched “with clear military objectives” following days of disjointed messaging from the Trump administration. The military leader said the first objective was targeting and eliminating Iran’s ballistic missile system “to prevent them from threatening the U.S.” in the region. The second was “destroying the Iranian Navy,” and the third was to stop Iran from rebuilding “its combat capability or combat power.”
At a press conference Monday, Hegseth had insisted the strikes would prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and harming more Americans and blasted the media and “political leftists.”
Hegseth insisted Monday that the goal of the operation was to eliminate Iran’s growing nuclear cabilities. He also acknowledged the strikes led to the death of Iran’s supreme leader. The defense chief declared: “This is not a regime change war, but the regime sure did change.”
Trump struck a different tone Tuesday when he admitted the “worst case” scenario is “we do this and then somebody takes over who is as bad as the previous person.”
He added that “five years” from now, the U.S. could look back and realize that the action was a mistake. “That could happen. We don’t want that to happen,” the president said.
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