Pete Hegseth says Iran’s plot to assassinate Trump failed
The Iranian officer who led the mass action to assassinate President Trump has been “hunted down and killed,” the Secretary of State announced. Pete Hegseth.
- Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that the leader of the Iranian military unit that tried to assassinate President Donald Trump has been killed.
- In 2024, the Department of Justice indicted an Iranian man in connection with a conspiracy against then-President-elect Trump.
- In 2024, two assassination attempts occurred at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and a golf course in Florida.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the leader of an Iranian military unit that tried to assassinate President Donald Trump has been killed.
“Iran tried to kill President Trump, but President Trump had the last laugh,” Hegseth said at a press conference on March 4. “We’ve known for a long time that Iran intended to kill President Trump and other U.S. officials… We finally had the opportunity (to target them) from the air.”
Hegseth stressed that the US offensive against Iran, which began on February 28 in parallel with the Israeli attack, was not a priority. Mr. Trump and other officials have said the strikes against Iran are aimed at thwarting Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs, but critics say claims about Iran’s military capabilities are false or exaggerated.
But when did Iran decide to target President Trump? Here’s what you need to know:
In 2024, the Department of Justice indicted Iranian man Farhad Shakeri on charges of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and murder-for-hire.
In November 2024, a statement from then-Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said, “The Department of Justice has indicted Iranian regime officials tasked with the regime’s role in directing a network of criminal associates to facilitate assassination plots against Iranian targets, including President-elect Donald Trump.” “We also indicted and arrested two individuals who we say were recruited as part of that network to silence and kill American journalists who are prominent critics of the regime on U.S. soil.”
Shakeri was believed to have been living in Iran at the time of the criminal charges, but was on the run. The Justice Department alleged that he used a network of criminal organizations he met in prison to carry out his mission for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps before being deported.
According to a statement from the Department of Justice, Shakeri told law enforcement that he was tasked with providing a plan to kill President Trump on October 7, 2024.
How many assassination attempts were made against President Trump?
Although the alleged plot never materialized, Trump survived two more assassination attempts that year.
On July 13, 2024, Trump was speaking at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania when a gunman on a rooftop near the rally fired multiple shots at the then-presidential candidate. Trump was shot in the ear and ducked behind the podium, but Secret Service agents swarmed him and forced him from the stage. The gunman, later identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was shot and killed by police. Spectators at the rally also died.
On September 15, 2024, President Trump was playing golf at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida, when Secret Service agents spotted a rifle shooting through the fenced perimeter of the course. Investigators fired shots at the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, and pursued him. He was sentenced to life in prison for attempting to kill President Trump on February 4, 2026.
There have also been some security concerns over the years at President Trump’s family property. Most recently, an alleged armed intruder who breached the Mar-a-Lago perimeter was shot and killed by the U.S. Secret Service on February 22nd.
Contributors: Bart Jansen, Michael Loria, Hannah Phillips, Antonio Fins, USA TODAY Network
Kinsey Crowley is a Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Please contact KCrowley@usatodayco.com. follow her X (Twitter), blue sky and TikTok.
