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 on Wednesday, but said “the leader of the unit who attempted to assassinate President Trump has been hunted down and killed” in strikes on Iran.
“Iran tried to kill President Trump and President Trump got the last laugh,” Hegseth said.
The defense chief did not reveal further details about Tuesday’s attack but said the leader of the unit 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, when asked by a reporter for more information. “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 the briefing at the Pentagon by boasting of the “incredible” results of the joint U.S. and Israeli bombing campaign on Iran.
“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.”
Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair General Dan Caine appeared next to a large map titled, “Operation EPIC FURY Timeline – First 100 Hours,” depicting where U.S. and Israeli strikes have taken place.
The defense secretary 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.
Six U.S. service members have been killed, including Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, who died in an Iranian drone strike at a command center in Kuwait 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, who was posthumously promoted from specialist were also killed, Caine confirmed.
The death toll in Iran has reached at least 1,045 people, an Iranian government agency said Wednesday.
Caine said the operation was launched “with clear military objectives” following days of disjointed messaging from the Trump administration.
He 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 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 ability to build a nuclear weapon. He also acknowledged the strikes led to the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The defense chief declared: “This is not a regime change war, but the regime sure did change.”
President Donald 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.
