The State Department on Thursday offered a reward of up to $20 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of an Iranian terrorist suspected of involvement in a murder-for-hire plot targeting former national security adviser John Bolton and others. He announced that he would pay money.
Shahram Poursafi, designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the Treasury Department, is believed to be arranging the assassination of a former Trump administration official on behalf of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF). are. According to State Department.
“From October 2021 to April 2022, Iran-based Pursafi hired criminal elements in the United States to kill Mr. Bolton in Washington, D.C. or Maryland in exchange for $300,000,” the State Department said in a statement. I tried,'' he announced.
“Pursafi allegedly provided material support and resources in furtherance of the attempted murder,” the ministry continued. “Poursafi told the would-be assassin, who had actually become a confidential source for U.S. agents, that he would have a second assassination job if he completed the Bolton murder.”
A criminal complaint against Poursafi, unsealed by the Justice Department in August 2022, alleges that the Revolutionary Guards member “used interstate commerce facilities in a murder-for-hire mission” and “used material resources in a cross-border murder plot.” “Provided and attempted to provide assistance,” the charges state. ”
Poursafi could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted on both charges, but remains a fugitive outside the country.
Bolton has long been an outspoken opponent of the Iranian regime and served as President Trump's national security adviser from 2018 to 2019. He previously served as the United States' ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006 under former President George W. Bush.
Bolton, 75, left the Trump administration in September 2019, months before Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani was killed in a January 2020 U.S. airstrike on Baghdad.
The Justice Department's complaint against Mr. Pursafi suggested that the assassination plot was likely carried out in retaliation for Mr. Soleimani's murder.
Last month, a Secret Service official told Congressional investigators investigating the July 13 assassination attempt on President Donald Trump that he was alerted to the threat of a “possible drone attack” by Iran targeting the former president. spoke.
