OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
1:43 PM – Wednesday, March 4, 2026
War Secretary Pete Hegseth has revealed that an Iranian official who plotted to assassinate President Donald Trump had been killed.
Hegseth hosted a Pentagon press conference on Wednesday alongside Joint Chiefs Chair Dan Caine, where he explained that the U.S.-Israeli campaign that carried out Operation Epic Fury also “hunted down and killed” the unit leader who attempted to kill the president.
“Iran tried to kill President Trump and President Trump had the last laugh,” Hegseth stated.
The secretary did not name the individual who orchestrated the attempt on the president’s life.
In January 2026, Iranian state television aired a direct death threat against President Trump. The broadcast featured a prominent poster of Trump following the failed assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, during his 2024 presidential campaign. The sign carried the ominous warning, “This time it will not miss the target,” in Persian.
The overarching theme of Hegseth’s remarks was the United States’ overwhelming military strength during the days-long military conflict with Iran, which began early on Saturday morning and continued into its fifth day on Wednesday.
The secretary conveyed confidence in the Trump administration’s mission to prevent Iran from possessing a nuclear weapon and heavily weaken its other military capabilities.
“Iran’s senior leaders are dead,” Hegseth said, referring to reports that approximately 48 high-ranking Iranian officials were neutralized during Operation Epic Fury, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“The so-called governing council that might have selected a successor? Dead, missing, or cowering in bunkers too terrified to even occupy the same room,” he continued.
Strikes on Tehran were reportedly moved up to daylight hours after Israeli officials discovered that Khamenei had called a meeting of several members of the Islamic regime, including but not limited to Minister of Defense Aziz Nasirzadeh, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Abdolrahim Mousavi and Head of IRGC Intelligence Mohammed Kazemi, who have all been reported deceased.
“The Iranian air force is no more,” Hegseth stated. “Built from 1996, destroyed in 2026.”
“The Iranian navy rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf,” he added. “Decimated, destroyed, defeated, pick your adjective. In fact, last night, we sunk their prize ship, the Soleimani.”
Hegseth described the sinking of the IRIS Shahid Soleimani off the coast of Sri Lanka as a “quiet death.” Having been hit by an American torpedo, he noted that it was the “first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II.”
“The combination of U.S. and Israeli intelligence and combat power will control Iran and will control it soon,” Hegseth declared. “This is what the fake news misses. We’ve taken control of Iran’s airspace and waterways without boots on the ground. We control their fate.”
“The terms of this war will be set by us at every step,” the secretary stated. “As I said Monday, the mission is laser-focused: Obliterate Iran’s missiles and drones and facilities that produce them, annihilate its navy and critical security infrastructure, and sever their pathway to nuclear weapons. Iran will never possess a nuclear bomb. Not on our watch, not ever.”
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