Iranian Shahram Poursafi charged in plot to murder John Bolton

A member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been indicted in connection with a plot to assassinate former National Security Adviser John Bolton, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

Shahram Poursafi was charged with providing and attempting to provide material support for the plan, as well as using interstate commerce facilities to commit murder-for-hire. He remains at large.

Prosecutors say that beginning in October 2021, the 45-year-old attempted to arrange the murder of Bolton on behalf of the IRGC and tried to pay people in the US $300,000 to carry out the hit.

The DOJ claimed the attempted murder was likely in retaliation for the US killing of IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani in a January 2020 airstrike in Baghdad.

“The Justice Department has the solemn duty to defend our citizens from hostile governments who seek to hurt or kill them,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the DOJ’s National Security Division said in a statement, revealing it is not the first time the department has uncovered Iranian revenge plots.

If convicted, Poursafi faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for the charge related to the use of interstate commerce facilities in a murder-for-hire operation, as well as up to 15 years in prison and an additional fine of up to $250,000 attempting to provide support for a transnational murder plot.

This is a developing story.