Assassination PLOT – Former Trump Advisor Was Allegedly a Target!
(RepublicanPress.org) – The United States and Iran have endured a contentious relationship for decades, spanning back to the 1979 fall of its pro-American government to a radical Islamic cleric. The conflict between the two countries saw the Iranian Hostage Crisis in the 1980s, followed by the imposition of massive sanctions in the 1990s and the introduction of the Iran-Iraq Arms Nonproliferation Act.
Former President George W. Bush identified Iran as part of an “axis of evil” during his 2002 State of the Union Address. Following suit, former President Donald Trump declared the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a foreign terrorist organization in 2019. The following year, he ordered a drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, the head of an elite IRGC unit called the Quds Force in the capital city of Baghdad.
Notably, one thread unites US-Iran relations over the last several decades: a majority of the conflicts took place overseas. However, the recent release of federal charges against an Iranian national revealed a plot to murder a prominent Trump administration official on US soil in 2021.
DOJ Charges Iranian for Plotting To Murder Former Trump Administration Official
On Wednesday, August 10, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) public affairs office issued a press release detailing the unsealing of a criminal complaint against IRGC member Shahram Poursafi, 45, in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
Also known as Mehdi Rezayi, the defendant allegedly attempted to arrange the murder-for-hire of Trump’s former National Security Advisor John Bolton. He reportedly offered to pay several people located in the United States to kill the former official in the nation’s capital or nearby Maryland. The press release also mentions a “second job,” which recent reports says refers to another target — Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Charging documents indicated Poursafi “likely” attempted to arrange the assassination “in retaliation” for Soleimani’s 2020 death. US Attorney Matthew Graves confirmed the defendant “tried to hatch a brazen plot [to] assassinate” a former official “on US soil in retaliation for US actions.” He also warned that the DOJ and other law enforcement officials would work hard to prevent any attacks and bring justice to anyone responsible for them.
Details of the Plot Revealed
On August 5, FBI Special Agent Randi Beck submitted an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint against Poursafi. The 28-page sworn statement detailed the investigative effort to bring him to justice, offering chilling insight into the alleged plot to kill Bolton.
Beginning in October 2021, Poursafi allegedly attempted to hire an individual in the US to photograph Bolton. He then offered to pay a confidential human source (CHS) to find someone to “eliminate” Bolton. He first agreed to hand over $250,000 for planning and carrying out the killing. After negotiations, that figure increased to $300,000.
Poursafi and the CHS attempted to locate Bolton throughout the rest of 2021, and the CHS continued stringing him along with possible time frames and scenarios for the murder through at least April 2022. However, it remains unclear if the two individuals have spoken since then.
Poursafi hasn’t been detained, as he remains overseas. If arrested and convicted, he faces charges for trying to support a transnational murder scheme and for using “interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire,” according to the DOJ press release.
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