Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that the Iranian leader behind multiple assassination attempts against President Donald Trump was killed during U.S. strikes on Iran over the weekend as part of Operation Epic Fury.
“The leader of the unit that attempted to assassinate Trump has been hunted down and killed,” Hegseth said during a press conference Wednesday morning.
“Iran tried to kill President Trump and President Trump got the last laugh,” Hegseth continued. “Now, this is not a ‘mission accomplished’ situation. This is simply a reality check.”
U.S. officials confirmed earlier this week that strikes against Iran, which began Saturday, killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior figures in the regime’s leadership.
The military campaign comes amid escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran following repeated threats from Iran against Trump after the 2020 U.S. strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani.
In 2024, Iran-linked actors attempted to arrange an assassination plot targeting Trump. The U.S. government has also previously warned of other Iranian efforts to target the former president.
In 2022, an Iranian video depicted an assassination attempt on Trump while he played golf.
Trump referenced those threats during a phone call with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl earlier this week following reports of Khamenei’s death.
“I got him before he got me,” Trump said.
“They tried twice,” Trump continued, referring to Iran’s previous attempts on his life. “Well, I got him first.”
During Wednesday’s press conference, Hegseth said the combined power of U.S. and Israeli intelligence and military forces is rapidly weakening Iran’s ability to respond.
“America is winning decisively, devastatingly and without mercy,” Hegseth said.
He also emphasized that the current military campaign was never intended to be evenly matched.
“This was never meant to be a fair fight and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be,” he said.
Iran has launched retaliatory attacks in response to the strikes. A drone strike in Kuwait earlier this week killed at least six Americans, according to U.S. officials. Hegseth vowed those casualties would be avenged.
He said:
“As President Trump said, more and larger waves are coming. We are just getting started. We are accelerating, not decelerating. Iran’s capabilities are evaporating by the hour, while American strength grows fiercer, smarter and utterly dominant. More bombers and more fighters are arriving just today. And now, with complete control of the skies, we will be using 500-pound, 1,000-pound and 2,000 pound GPS and laser-guided precision gravity bombs, of which we have a nearly unlimited stockpile. We used more exquisite standoff munitions at the start, but no longer need to. Our stockpiles of those, as well as patriots, remains extremely strong.”
Hegseth added that the United States has the capacity to sustain the conflict if necessary.
He warned the U.S. can “sustain this fight easily for as along as we need to.”
The defense secretary compared Iran’s situation to a football team that had prepared only the opening portion of a game.
“I liken Iran’s predicament to a football team who scripted the first 20 plays of a game,” he said. “The team knew what plays to run because their first few drives were scripted. But now that the game has started and the blitz is on, they don’t know what plays call, let alone how to get in the huddle and call those plays.”
Hegseth concluded by saying the strikes represent Trump getting the “last laugh” against Iran.
