The U.S. Secretary of Defense revealed that the military has killed an Iranian official behind the plot to assassinate President Donald Trump two years ago.
On 4 Mar 2026 GMT+7, Pete Hegseth, U.S. Secretary of Defense, stated at a press briefing on the progress of the "Epic Fury" operation in Iran at the Pentagon that the U.S. military had killed a senior Iranian official who was the head of the unit behind the assassination plot against President Donald Trump.
Hegseth said that the Iranian official, whose name he did not disclose, was killed on Tuesday (3 Mar) and emphasized that this official was not the primary target of this war.
“The leader of the unit that attempted to assassinate President Trump has been hunted down and killed. Iran tried to kill President Trump, but President Trump was the one who laughed last.”
In 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice charged an Iranian man connected to the assassination plot against Trump, who was then a presidential candidate, acting under orders from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). However, the Iranian government denied the allegations.
President Trump also spoke about the assassination plot during remarks on the joint U.S.-Israeli operation that killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last Sunday, stating, “I took him out before he could take me out.”
However, Hegseth noted that Trump did not indicate that hunting down the Iranian leader behind the assassination plot was a top Pentagon priority.
“Although that was not even a primary objective of this operation, and in fact, the President or anyone else never raised this issue publicly, I and others have ensured that those responsible for that incident (the assassination plot) were ultimately included on the target list,” Hegseth told reporters.
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Source:cna