A member of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps was accused by the United States on Wednesday of planning to kill John Bolton, a national security adviser to former President Donald Trump.
The Justice Department asserted that Shahram Poursafi, 45, of Tehran, also known as Mehdi Rezayi, was probably driven to assassinate Bolton out of retaliation for the passing of Qassem Soleimani, a commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in January 2020.
According to the department, Poursafi was also ready to spend $1 million on a second ‘job.’
According to Morgan Ortagus, who worked as the State Department’s spokesperson under the Trump administration, Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, was the second target. The Justice Department did not respond right away.
Poursafi is still at large since Iran and the US do not share an extradition agreement. The FBI published a wanted poster on Wednesday.
Tehran criticised the American action.
Nasser Kanaani, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, stated that Iran ‘seriously warns against any action against Iranian citizens under the pretence of these ludicrous and unsubstantiated claims.’
According to a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Washington does not think the accusations should have an impact on negotiations with Tehran about restarting the 2015 nuclear agreement, which Iran complied with in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
It was unclear, though, how the Revolutionary Guard, a significant political force in Iran that runs a vast corporate empire as well as elite armed and intelligence services, and which Washington accuses of waging a worldwide terrorist operation, would respond to the allegations.
On Monday, indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran came to an end in Vienna, and representatives of the European Union announced that they had presented a final document to revive the nuclear agreement that Trump pulled out of in 2018.
Poursafi allegedly asked a U.S. citizen only known as ‘Individual A’ to take pictures of Bolton under the pretence that they were required for a future book. After introducing Poursafi to a secret government informant who could snap the photos for a fee, the American resident left.
Later, he instructed the informant to create a cryptocurrency account to enable the transfer of funds.
He allegedly told the informant in later emails that it didn’t matter how the killing was done, but that his ‘crew’ would need video evidence to prove it.
According to CNN, a number of current and past U.S. officials are under increased security because of Iranian threats.
Bolton told the network, ‘I believe it’s fairly accurate to say that many other Americans are in the targets of this administration. You can learn about the regime from it. It reveals its personality to you.’
Post Your Comments