An alleged mastermind of an Iranian covert unit accused of plotting to assassinate President Donald Trump in 2024 has been “hunted down and killed” amid Operation Epic Fury, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday.
“Iran tried to kill President Trump, and President Trump got the last laugh,” Hegseth declared during a press briefing with reporters. “This is not a ‘mission accomplished’ situation. This is simply a reality check.”
Iranian animus toward Trump traces back to his first term, when he authorized a January 2020 drone strike that killed General Qasem Soleimani, a powerful commander in the Quds Force. Since then, federal prosecutors have charged multiple people in two separate cases of Iranian murder-for-hire plots during the 2024 presidential campaign, though officials have not presented evidence directly tying Tehran to those schemes.
Hegseth did not name the alleged mastermind he said was killed in the ongoing operations.
In an interview Sunday, Trump addressed how the threats to his life spurred his decision to wage war on Iran and kill the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“I got him before he got me,” Trump said in a phone interview with ABC News. “They tried twice. Well, I got him first.”
Khamenei, who led the Islamic Republic since 1989, was killed Saturday by Israel in a joint operation with the U.S. It was the result of months of close intelligence sharing between the allies, officials told Military Times.
Hegseth described the broader U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran on Wednesday as “accelerating.” He indicated the two nations will establish complete control of Iranian airspace within days.
“It means we will fly all day, all night, day and night, finding, fixing, and finishing the missiles and defense industrial base of the Iranian military,” Hegseth said. “More and larger waves are coming. We are accelerating, not decelerating.”
Hegseth dismissed reports that stocks of munitions were running low, noting that the U.S. will deploy 500-pound, 1,000-pound and 2,000-pound GPS and laser-guided precision bombs “of which we have a nearly unlimited stockpile.”
As U.S. and Israeli forces advance their offensive, Iran has launched a series of retaliatory missile and drone strikes on American interests and allies across the Middle East.
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American military installations — including the U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates — have been targeted by the Islamic Republic.
But Gen. Dan Caine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday that Iranian ballistic missile launches have decreased 86% since the opening day of fighting, including a 23% drop over the past 24 hours. He added that Iran’s one-way attack drones are down 73%.
The Pentagon also disclosed that a torpedo from a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean Tuesday night – marking the first sinking of an enemy warship by an American torpedo since World War II.
Tanya Noury is a reporter for Military Times and Defense News, with coverage focusing on the White House and Pentagon.
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