OAN Staff Blake Wolf
2:53 PM – Thursday, September 26, 2024
The Biden administration has announced it will be offering a reward of up to $20 million for information pertaining to a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) charged with an assassination plot on John Bolton, Trump’s former national security advisor.
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Shahram Poursafi is the man allegedly behind the murder plot targeting Bolton between 2021 and 2022. The U.S. Justice Department accused him of attempting to hire criminals within the U.S. to kill Bolton in Washington D.C. or Maryland, in exchange for $300,000.
“Poursafi told the potential assassin – who actually became a confidential source for U.S. investigators – that once he completed the Bolton murder he would have a second assassination job for him,” the State Department announced in a statement.
Poursafi was charged in 2022 for the alleged murder plot against Bolton. However, he remains at large abroad.
The IRGC has repeatedly attempted to avenge the U.S. led drone strike, killing IRGC leader Qassem Soleimani in January 2020. Donald Trump was president at the time of the assassination, with Bolton holding the title of national security advisor.
Soleimani was the head of the IRGC’s Quds Force, which oversees the operations of Iranian proxy groups like Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.
Although Iran has officially denied any assassination plot, Iranian leaders have vowed to avenge its fallen leader, including targeting former President Trump, according to U.S. intelligence officials.
“Big threats on my life by Iran,” Trump stated on Truth Social. “The entire U.S. Military is watching and waiting. Moves were already made by Iran that didn’t work out, but they will try again. Not a good situation for anyone. I am surrounded by more men, guns, and weapons than I have ever seen before. Nice to see Republicans and Democrats get together on something. An attack on a former President is a Death Wish for the attacker!”
U.S. officials claim that Iran often turns to shadowy third parties to carry out its operations abroad. In January, U.S. authorities charged an Iranian national, along with two Canadians, with allegedly plotting an assassination against an Iranian defector living in Maryland.
Iranian Vice President Mohammad Javad Zarif responded to the allegations regarding the assassination threats against American officials, stating “We do not assassinate people, but the fact of the matter is – they assassinated a revered Iranian general.”
Bolton responded to the threats on Thursday, arguing that the U.S. should be “more proactive.”
“When they come after us, government officials, current and former, for doing their job, really that’s an attack on the United States government itself,” Bolton stated. “I don’t think staying in a passive mode about it is the best way to go. We know that this is more than idle speculation in Tehran.”
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