Iranian commander behind 'plot to assassinate Trump' killed, claims US Secretary of War
United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has claimed the US "hunted down and killed" the leader of a unit that plotted to assassinate Donald Trump.
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"The leader of the unit who attempted to assassinate President Trump has been hunted down and killed," Mr Hegseth said today at a Pentagon press conference.
"Iran tried to kill President Trump. And President Trump got the last laugh," he said.
Mr Hegseth said the operation to kill the commander took place on Tuesday, but he did not name the individual who was killed.
In 2024, the U.S. Justice Department charged an Iranian man in connection with an alleged plot ordered by the IRGC to assassinate Trump, then U.S. president-elect.
The DoJ alleged that Farhad Shakeri, then 51, was tasked with "providing a plan" to kill Trump.
The US government said at the time that Shakeri was believed to be in Iran.
Prosecutors alleged that an official in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard directed Shakeri in September of that year to devise a plan to surveil and kill Trump.
During the Pentagon briefing he also confirmed a torpedo from a US submarine sank an Iranian warship.
"An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters," Mr Hegseth said.
"Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo."
Earlier, authorities said 32 people were rescued from the Iranian ship that was reported in distress off the coast of Sri Lanka.
It was not immediately clear what happened to the ship or how many people were on board.
The US military said previously it had already destroyed 17 Iranian vessels, and that its goal was sinking "the entire navy".
Mr Hegseth finished the briefing with a declaration that the US "set the tone and the tempo of this fight”. He would not say how much longer the conflict would continue.
In the Commons today, Sir Keir Starmer suggested that Mr Trump has no ‘viable’ plan for his war in Iran.
He said the US lacked a “thought-through” approach.
It comes after Mr Trump criticised Sir Keir for refusing to join the attacks on Tehran at the weekend, and for initially not allowing the US to use British bases to bomb the regime.