On Wednesday, August 10, 2022, the Department of Justice announced that a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had been charged with complicity in a malicious plot against John Bolton’s life.
Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, took to social media to praise the Justice Department for acting quickly against Shahram Poursafi. According to an affidavit filed in support of a criminal complaint filed against Shahram Poursafi, a.k.a. ‘Mehdi Rezay,’ he violated several federal laws:
“This affidavit is being submitted in support of a criminal complaint alleging that SHAHRAM POURSAFI, a/k/a “Mehdi Rezayi” (hereafter referred to as “POURSAFI”) violated the following federal criminal laws: (l) 18 U.S.C.
The indictment linked Poursafi’s conspiracy against John Bolton to the January 2020 assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Qods Force. The previous leader was killed in an airstrike by the United States. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi openly threatened Trump and other top officials with retaliation if they refused to stand trial, according to the criminal complaint.
“On or about January 3, 2022, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi delivered a public speech in which he claimed that former President Trump and other former high-ranking officials in the Trump Administration should face prosecution for the air attack on Qassem Soleimani. Raisi threatened that if those responsible were not brought to justice, the “fist of vengeance would reach from the Islamic ummah’s sleeve.”
Poursafi is still on the run across national borders, and the FBI is on the hunt for him.
What exactly is the identity of Shahram Poursafi? An Iranian national is wanted for conspiring against John Bolton
Following the assassination of Qasem Soleimani in a US bombing in January 2020, both the Iranian President and the current commander of the IRGC-QF issued numerous threats of vengeance. According to the criminal complaint filed against Shahram Poursafi, the commander of the IRGC-QF, Esmail Ghani, publicly stated:
“We will lay the groundwork for strong retaliation against the United States from within their own homes, because we do not need to be present as supervisors everywhere; wherever necessary, we retaliate against Americans with the support of those on their side and within their own homes, without our presence.”
Poursafi, a 45-year-old Iranian with no prior visits to the US, is accused of attempting to pay $300,000 to someone in the US for the assassination of John Bolton. The affidavit contains additional information about the ruse:
“POURSAFI used and caused others to use interstate commerce facilities and caused others to travel in interstate commerce beginning at least in or around October 2021 and continuing until at least in or around April 2022 in order to plan and carry out the murder of former National Security Advisor John Bolton.”
Based on images, the FBI identified Poursafi as an IRGC member and discovered that the organization entrusted him with hiring people in the United States to assassinate John Bolton.
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