US offers $20m (£15m) reward for information leading to arrest of Iranian man accused of plotting to assassinate Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton.
Shahram Poursafi, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is accused of trying to hire criminals in the United States to kill Mr. Bolton, a vocal critic of Iran, in exchange for 300,000 dollars.
The reward announcement comes the same week Trump said he was briefed by U.S. intelligence about an alleged Iranian assassination plot against him.
Iran has previously denied orchestrating plots to assassinate Trump officials or interfere in US affairs.
Officials say that between October 2021 and April 2022, Mr. Poursafi attempted to hire “criminal elements in the United States” to assassinate Mr. Bolton in Washington DC or Maryland.
One of the potential assassins he contacted was a confidential source for U.S. investigators, according to the State Department.
Mr Poursafi allegedly told this person that after reaching Bolton, “he would have a second assassination to entrust to him”.
His alleged motivation was retaliation against the United States for the assassination of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, ordered by Trump while he was in the White House, according to officials.
The US Department of Justice has charged Mr. Poursafi with the alleged 2022 murder plot. He remains at large and officials say he does not appear to be in the United States.
Iranian Vice President Mohammad Javad Zarif, in an interview with NBC News this week he denied accusations that his government tried to kill Iranian critics abroad.
“We don’t assassinate people, but the fact is they assassinated a revered Iranian general,” he said.
Mr. Bolton, speaking to NBC on Thursday, said the United States should be “more proactive” in the face of Iranian threats.
“When they attack us government officials, past and present, for doing our jobs, it’s really an attack on the United States government itself,” Mr. Bolton said.
“I don’t think remaining in passive mode is the best way to go. We know that this is just idle speculation in Tehran.”
Earlier this week, the Trump campaign said it had received information from U.S. intelligence about Iranian plots to kill Trump.
The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence saw the briefing but declined to provide details.
Trump posted on the social networking site X, formerly Twitter, that Iran was threatening “my life.”
“Iran has taken steps before that didn’t work, but they will try again.”
US investigators have not suggested that Iran was involved in either of two recent assassination attempts against Trump, at a rally in Pennsylvania and at his golf course in Florida.
Meanwhile, the FBI and US intelligence agencies have claimed that Iranian hackers stole and attempted to disseminate information about Donald Trump’s election campaign, hoping to “stir up discord” and undermine confidence in the American institutions as the November elections approach.
