JAKARTA - The Pentagon announced on Wednesday that the United States military had killed an Iranian official who led a unit behind an alleged assassination plot against President Donald Trump.
The announcement of the death of the unnamed Iranian official was made during an operational update on the four-day war with Iran at the Pentagon.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth praised the killing, which he said took place on Tuesday, though he stressed the Iranian official was not the main focus of the war.
"The unit leader who tried to kill President Trump has been hunted down and killed. Iran tried to kill President Trump and President Trump is the last to laugh," said Defense Minister Hegseth, launching Al Arabiya from Reuters (5/3).
In 2024, the US Department of Justice indicted an Iranian man in connection with an alleged plot ordered by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to assassinate President Trump, who was then the US President-elect.
On the other hand, Tehran denied allegations that they had targeted Trump and other US officials.
President Trump cited Iran's alleged plans when speaking on Sunday about the joint US-Israeli operation that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, telling ABC News: "I caught him before he caught me."
However, Defense Secretary Hegseth said President Trump never mentioned efforts to track the Iranian unit leader behind the plan as a Pentagon priority.
"Even though it's not the focus of the effort at all - in fact, it was never raised by the President or anyone else - I made sure, and others made sure, that those responsible for it ended up being part of the target list," said Defense Secretary Hegseth.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US General Dan Caine said that the US military was making steady progress against Iran after a series of devastating attacks.
He said Iran's ballistic missile launches across the theater were down 86 percent from the first day of fighting and its one-way attack drone fire was down 73 percent from opening days.
He also said that US attacks were expanding as the US sought to build local air superiority along Iran's southern coast.
"We will now begin to expand our reach into the hinterland, striking deeper into Iranian territory, and creating additional freedom of maneuver for US forces," General Caine said.
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