Hegseth: US Killed Iranian Who Plotted to Assassinate Trump

The Pentagon says someone tied to an alleged 2024 plot to kill President Trump is now dead—though Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday told reporters that "was not the focus of the effort by any stretch of the imagination." Still, the leader of an Iranian unit who reportedly sought to assassinate the then-presidential candidate "has been hunted down and killed," Hegseth said, adding, "Iran tried to kill President Trump, and President Trump got the last laugh." He did not give the target's name, though he noted the "opportunity arose 'from the air,'" on Tuesday, as Axios puts it.

US officials have long said Tehran was looking to retaliate for the 2020 drone strike Trump ordered that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani; Iran has denied plotting to kill the former president. In 2024, a Pakistani man with ties to Iran was charged in the US with working to facilitate an alleged assassination plan; the New York Times notes Asif Merchant is currently on trial.