DOJ Charges Iranian in Plot to Murder Ex-Trump Adviser John Bolton

ReutersAugust 10, 2022

WASHINGTON—The Biden administration charged a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps on Wednesday with plotting to murder John Bolton, a national security adviser to former President Donald Trump.

The Justice Department alleged that Shahram Poursafi, also known as Mehdi Rezayi, 45, of Tehran, was likely motivated to kill Bolton in retaliation for the death of Qassem Soleimani, a commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) killed in a U.S. drone strike in January 2020. The IRGC is designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. government.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Iran does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, and Poursafi remains at large. The FBI on Wednesday released a most-wanted poster.

An FBI wanted poster shows Shahram Poursafi, also known as Mehdi Rezayi, of Tehran, Iran, in an image released on Aug. 10, 2022. (Federal Bureau of Investigation/Handout via Reuters)

According to the criminal complaint, Poursafi asked a U.S. resident identified only as “Individual A” to take photographs of Bolton, under the guise that the photos were needed for a forthcoming book. The U.S. resident then introduced Poursafi to a covert government informant who could take the photographs for a price.

Investigators said the following month Poursafi contacted the informant on an encrypted messaging application and offered the person $250,000 to hire someone to “eliminate” Bolton—an amount that would later be negotiated up to $300,000.

When the informant asked Poursafi to be more specific in his request, he said he wanted “the guy” purged, and he provided Bolton’s first and last name, according to a sworn statement in support of the complaint.

He later directed the informant to open a cryptocurrency account to facilitate the payment. In subsequent communications, he allegedly told the informant it did