American justice today revealed a conspiracy led by a member of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards to assassinate John Bolton, former White House national security adviser.
The US Department of Justice said in a statement that Shahram Poursafi, or Mehdi Rezagi as he is also known, 45, was indicted in absentia for offering to pay $300,000 to people in the United States to kill Bolton. The latter, in addition to former President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, was also the US ambassador to the UN and the plot to assassinate him was apparently aimed at revenge for the death in a US strike of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in January 2020.
The Iranian national “attempted to pay persons in the United States $300,000 to carry out the assassination in Washington or Maryland,” the US Department of Justice said.
The plot was revealed to authorities by the person who was supposed to assassinate Bolton, whose identity has not been released.
According to the statement, between October 2021 and April 2022, Sahram Poursafi contacted this confidential source using encrypted messages, instructing him to locate, photograph and then kill Bolton, who is considered a hawk and a warmonger at that. in relation to the Iranian issue.
He instructed him to open a cryptocurrency account, then gave him the business address of a former Trump adviser, before pressing him to implement the plan before the first anniversary of Soleimani’s death.
The powerful Iranian general, architect of Iran’s strategy in the Middle East, was the head of the Quds Force, a unit responsible for conducting operations abroad in the ranks of the Revolutionary Guards. Killed on January 3, 2020 in a drone strike in Baghdad.
As the anniversary passed, Poursafi continued to urge the insider to kill Bolton, promising her another million dollar contract if the first operation was successful.
The FBI issued an arrest warrant for Poursafi with photographs, two of which show him wearing a Revolutionary Guard uniform.
“During their conversations, the confidential source repeatedly referred to Poursafi as a person associated with the Quds Force. Poursafi never denied this,” the US justice noted.
If caught, which is unlikely as he appears to be in Iran, Sahram Poursafi faces up to 25 years in prison in the US.
Source: AMPE
Source: Capital
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