War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday morning that the Iranian commander responsible for leading the unit that attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump has been killed, delivering what he described as a decisive moment of accountability in the ongoing Operation Epic Fury against Iran.
"The leader of the unit that attempted to assassinate Trump has been hunted down and killed," Hegseth declared at a press conference Wednesday morning. "Iran tried to kill President Trump and President Trump got the last laugh."
Hegseth was careful to temper the announcement, however, making clear that the mission is far from over. "Now, this is not a 'mission accomplished' situation," he said. "This is simply a reality check."
A Long History of Iranian Threats Against Trump
The killing of the assassination unit's leader is the latest — and most consequential — development in a years-long campaign by Iran to target President Trump. Iran's hostility toward Trump dates back to January 2020, when Trump ordered the strike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force and one of the most powerful military figures in the Middle East. Iran vowed revenge, and it has repeatedly made good on that threat in word if not yet in deed.
In 2022, an Iranian-produced video openly depicted a simulated assassination attempt against Trump while he played golf — a brazen piece of state-sponsored propaganda that drew outrage in the United States but little meaningful international response at the time. In 2024, Iran-linked actors moved beyond propaganda and into action, arranging a concrete assassination plot targeting the then-former and now current president.
Trump addressed those attempts directly in a call with ABC News' Jonathan Karl earlier this week, speaking with characteristic bluntness. "They tried twice," Trump said. "Well, I got him first."
Khamenei Killed in U.S. Strikes
The killing of the assassination unit's commander comes on the heels of an even more seismic development: U.S. officials confirmed earlier this week that American strikes on Iran, which began Saturday as part of Operation Epic Fury, killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — the man who had ruled the Islamic Republic with an iron fist for more than three decades and who had personally overseen the regime's repeated efforts to eliminate Trump.
Trump reflected on Khamenei's death with unmistakable satisfaction. "I got him before he got me," the president told ABC News.
It is a remarkable moment in American foreign policy history. The architect of Iran's decades-long campaign of terrorism, regional destabilization, and proxy warfare against American interests and personnel — and the man who directed multiple attempts on a sitting American president's life — is dead, eliminated by the very man he sought to kill.
'America Is Winning'
Hegseth used Wednesday's press conference to project confidence about the broader trajectory of the conflict, pointing to the combined power of American and Israeli intelligence and military capabilities as the decisive factor in the operation's success.
"The combination of U.S. and Israeli intelligence and combat power will control Iran and will control it soon," Hegseth said.
His assessment of the current state of the conflict was equally direct. "America is winning decisively, devastatingly and without mercy," Hegseth said.
Operation Epic Fury represents one of the most aggressive direct military actions the United States has taken against Iran since the two nations' decades-long shadow war began. The killing of Khamenei and the elimination of the commander behind the Trump assassination plot signal that the Trump administration has fundamentally shifted America's posture toward the Islamic Republic — from reactive deterrence to decisive offensive action.
For a regime that spent years threatening to assassinate an American president and came dangerously close to carrying it out, the consequences have been swift and severe. As Hegseth made clear Wednesday morning, they are not finished yet.
Operation Epic Fury is ongoing. Further updates from the Department of Defense are expected as the situation develops.
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03.04.2026