U.S. War Secretary Pete Hegseth said on March 4 that the leader of an Iranian unit who had allegedly attempted to assassinate U.S. President Donald Trump has been “hunted down and killed.”

Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon that Iran “tried to kill President Trump, and President Trump got the last laugh.”

Hegseth did not name the individual who was killed.

Senior Israeli security officials told Epoch Magazine that Israel has eliminated Rahman Moghadam, the alleged head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps special operations division.

Moghadam was allegedly behind a 2024 assassination attempt on Trump, according to the officials.

Tehran has officially denied any allegations that it was involved in an attempt on the lives of Trump and other U.S. officials.

“We’ve known for a long time that Iran had intentions on trying to kill President Trump and or other U.S. officials,” Hegseth told reporters.

“And while that was not the focus of the effort by any stretch of the imagination ... I ensured, and others ensured that those who were responsible for that were eventually part of the target list.”

He said at the same briefing that the United States and Israel would soon have complete control of Iranian airspace.

“Starting last night and to be completed in a few days, in under a week, the two most powerful air forces in the world will have complete control of Iranian skies, uncontested airspace,” he told reporters during a press conference at the Pentagon.

According to the U.S. war secretary, that would allow the United States and Israel to eliminate both military leaders and missiles from Iran.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a March 4 post on X that anyone appointed to replace Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the U.S.–Israeli strikes, “will be an unequivocal target for elimination.”

“[Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] and I have instructed the IDF to prepare and act by all means to carry out the mission as an integral part of the objectives of Operation Roaring Lion,” Katz said.

Operation Roaring Lion is the Israeli operation being conducted alongside the United States’ Operation Epic Fury, initiated by Trump on Feb. 28.

“We will continue to act with full force, together with our American partners, to crush the regime’s capabilities and create the conditions for the Iranian people to overthrow it and replace it,” Katz said.

Ryan Morgan, Victoria Friedman, and Jackson Richman contributed to this report.