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Washington offers huge reward for capturing Iranian planner of Bolton assassination
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Attempts to target former U.S. officials indicate the continuation of Iran's revenge policy, posing challenges to any potential efforts for rapprochement between the countries in the near future
About two years after U.S. authorities uncovered an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate former White House National Security Advisor John Bolton, a new development has emerged in the case.
The U.S. State Department's Rewards for Justice program announced a reward of up to $20 million for information leading to the location of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps member accused of planning an attempt to eliminate a senior official in former President Donald Trump's administration.
The program posted on its "X" platform account a photo of "Shahram Poursafi" along with information about the suspect, explaining that there is a $20 million reward for anyone who provides information about him and his activities.
This comes after the U.S. Department of Justice revealed on Wednesday details of an attempt by an Iranian citizen, a member of the Revolutionary Guards, to assassinate John Bolton, the former U.S. National Security Advisor, during Donald Trump's presidency.
A statement from the department said that court documents revealed that since October 2021, Shahram Poursafi, also known as Mehdi Rezayi, 45, tried to exploit "international trade mechanisms" to assassinate Bolton, likely in retaliation for the killing of Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, in January 2020.
It indicated that Poursafi, who works for the Revolutionary Guards, sought to pay money to individuals in the United States to carry out the assassination in the U.S. capital, Washington, or the neighboring state of Maryland.
It also clarified that in October 2022, Poursafi, also known as Mehdi Rezayi, offered to pay $300,000 to individuals in the United States to carry out the mission.
The person who was supposed to carry out Bolton's assassination revealed the plot to the authorities. His identity was not disclosed, but it later turned out that he was actually an informant for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The U.S. Department of Justice reported at the time that between October 2021 and April 2022, Shahram Poursafi communicated with this source via an encrypted messaging platform and provided him with instructions to locate Bolton, photograph him, and then eliminate him.
Later, he ordered him to create a cryptocurrency account, then provided him with the address of Trump's former advisor and asked him to execute the plan before the first anniversary of Soleimani's assassination. It clarified that the secret source repeatedly referred to Poursafi's connection to the Quds Force during their conversations.
In contrast, Tehran denied the U.S. accusations, and if caught, the accused faces a prison sentence of up to 25 years in the United States.
It's worth noting that former U.S. President and current election candidate Donald Trump had accused Iran of planning to assassinate him, calling for its destruction.
Tehran's response came quickly, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani confirming in a statement on Thursday that this accusation of targeting former U.S. officials is baseless.
Moreover, U.S. officials have long been concerned about Iran, which they consider a threat to both Trump and his former administration officials, and accuse Tehran of attempting to interfere in and influence the results of the U.S. presidential elections.
Levant-Agencies
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