The FBI is investigating an alleged assassination plot by an Iranian operative to eliminate former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton. The justice department believes the scheme is a retaliation for a US airstrike that killed a popular Iranian general back in 2020 in Iraq.
In response to the uncovered threat, Bolton thanked the justice department stating, “while much cannot be said publicly right now, one point is undisputable: Iran’s rulers are liars, terrorists, and enemies of the United States.”
An unsealed 28-page criminal complaint by the justice department revealed that the fairly advanced plan began in October 2021. The wanted suspect is Shahram Poursafi, a suspected member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and is believed to have offered $300,000 for the assassination. According to the justice department, Shahram Poursafi, 45, was charged for using “interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire and with providing and attempting to provide material support to a transnational murder plot.” Poursafi is not yet in the custody of the FBI but he has been registered to their most wanted list.
Though Bolton resigned from the Trump administration in 2019, he applauded the operation that killed IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani. After Soleimani’s murder Bolton tweeted that he hoped “this is the first step to regime change in Tehran.”
On October 22, 2021, during the coordination of the failed assassination, Poursafi asked an individual whom he met online to take photographs of the former security advisor, and claimed the photos were for a book he was writing. The individual then introduced Poursafi to another associate who was willing to take the photos for $5,000-$10,000. The associate is referred to in court documents as the confidential human source or CHS.
The CHS and Poursafi used encrypted messaging systems to communicate and on November 9, 2021, Poursafi offered him/her $250,000 to hire a hitman to “eliminate” Bolton. The amount later mounted up to $300,000, and Poursafi supposedly told the CHS he had another job on the table for $1 million.
On November 19, 2021, “Poursafi told the CHS that it did not matter how the murder was carried out, but his “group” would require video confirmation of the target’s death. The CHS asked Poursafi what would happen if the killing was attributed to Iran. Poursafi told the CHS not to worry and that Poursafi’s “group” would take care of it.”
Although Poursafi remains at large, if found guilty, he could face up to “10 years behind bars with a fine of $250,000 for the use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, and up to 15 years imprisonment and a fine up to $250,000 for providing and attempting to provide material support to a transnational murder plot.”
The FBI believes the additional $1 million Poursafi offered for the second job could have been a bounty on the head of higher officials, presumably former President Donald Trump.
The justice department has more thorough details concerning the case that could be accessed here.