Hegseth Says U.S. Forces Killed Leader of Iranian Unit Behind Plot Against Trump; No Independent Confirmation Yet

On Wednesday, standing before reporters, War Secretary Pete Hegseth said American forces had "hunted down and killed" the leader of an Iranian unit that plotted to assassinate President Trump. "Iran tried to kill President Trump, and President Trump got the last laugh," he said. The claim comes from Hegseth alone; the source reporting cites no independent confirmation, and no name or unit was given.

Hegseth made the announcement while describing what he called the dismantling of Iran's military. He said the killing took place the previous day, and he cast the broader campaign with a football comparison: Iran, he said, had scripted its first twenty plays, but once the blitz began its commanders no longer knew what to call or how to get into the huddle.

He described Iran's leadership as shattered. Senior leaders, he said, are dead. The so-called governing council that might have chosen a successor is, in his words, dead, missing, or cowering in bunkers, too frightened to share a room. He added that generals, mid-level officers and enlisted ranks cannot communicate well enough to mount a coordinated, sustained offensive. These are his characterizations, offered without supporting detail in the source.

On naval and air power, he was just as sweeping. The Iranian Air Force, he said, was built for 1996 and destroyed in 2026, and the Navy "rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf." He said U.S. forces sank Iran's prize ship, the Soleimani, the night before. He also said that on Tuesday an American submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean with a torpedo, the first enemy ship sunk by torpedo since World War Two. He said the vessel believed it was safe in international waters, and that the Pentagon would show footage on screen. He tied the moment to the era when the department was still called the War Department, saying, "we are fighting to win." He also cautioned that this is "not a mission accomplished situation" but "a reality check."

The White House later posted a video edit of the clip on X with the caption "I WAS THE HUNTED, AND NOW I'M THE HUNTER."

The Daily Wire's Mary Margaret Olohan asked how the leader was located. Hegseth said Iran had long harbored intentions of killing Trump and other U.S. officials. Finding the man responsible, he said, was not the focus of the effort "by any stretch of the imagination," and neither the president nor anyone else had raised it. He said he and others made sure those responsible were eventually added to the target list. The early priority was missiles and launchers, but when the chance came to strike those who targeted Americans, the U.S. took it, from the air. He gave no further operational detail.

Olohan also asked about Turkey's defense ministry saying NATO air defenses intercepted an Iranian ballistic missile headed toward Turkish airspace, and whether that could trigger NATO's Article Five or whether the U.S. made the intercept. Hegseth said he would have to get back to her on what the intercept looked like. He said he was aware of the engagement but had no sense it would trigger anything like Article Five.

The Gateway Pundit noted that Trump recently said he killed Khamenei "before he got me," adding, "They tried twice." What to watch now: independent confirmation of the killing, fuller Pentagon detail on the strikes, and Turkey's own account of the intercepted missile.