(WASHINGTON) A US judge on Wednesday revealed a plot led by a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to assassinate former White House national security adviser John Bolton.
Posted at 11:14 am.
Mehdi Rezai, 45, is accused of offering to pay $300,000 to individuals in the United States to kill John Bolton, the US ambassador to the United Nations, the US Department of Justice said in a statement. Iran wants to avenge the death of General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US strike in January 2020.
Authorities were tipped off to a plot by a man believed to have killed Mr Bolton, whose identity has not been released.
According to the press release, between October 2021 and April 2022, Shahram Boursafi contacted this confidential source using an encrypted message and told the alleged hawk, Mr. Bolton was found, photographed and instructed to kill him. Iranian file.
He ordered him to open a cryptocurrency account, then gave him the business address of a former adviser to Donald Trump, before urging 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, headed the Quds Force, the unit responsible for external operations within the Revolutionary Guards. He was killed in a drone strike in Baghdad on January 3, 2020.
As the anniversary date passed, Shahram Boursafi pursued a secret source to kill Mr Bolton, promising him another million-dollar contract if the first operation was successful.
The FBI has released a search warrant for Poursafi along with several photos, two of which show him wearing a Revolutionary Guard uniform.
“During their discussions, the confidential source repeatedly referred to Boursafi as being linked to the Quds Force. Boursafi never denied it,” the US judge noted.
Shahram Boursafi faces up to 25 years in prison in the U.S. if arrested, which is unlikely if he appears to be in Iran.
