By Andrea Mitchell, Ken Dilanian and Rich Schapiro -
NBC News
An Iranian national who is a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been charged with a plot to assassinate former national security adviser John Bolton, the Justice Department said Wednesday.
Shahram Poursafi, 45, of Tehran, is accused of plotting Bolton's assassination, likely in retaliation for the January 2020 death at the hands of the United States of
Iranian
Shadow Commander
Qassem Soleimani, head of the Force. Quds.
Poursafi, who also goes by the name Mehdi Rezayi, tried to pay gunmen $300,000 to carry out the attack in Washington DC or Maryland, the Justice Department said.
“The Department of Justice has a solemn duty to defend our citizens from hostile governments that seek to harm or kill them,” said Deputy Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen.
“This is not the first time we have uncovered Iranian plots for revenge on US soil, and we will work tirelessly to expose and stop each such plot,” he added.
Donald Trump's former National Security Advisor, John Bolton.Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Poursafi, who is on the run, has been charged with using facilities for interstate commerce in the execution of a murder-for-hire, and providing material support to an international assassination plot.
[Qasem Soleimani: The 'Commander in the Shadows' Whose Assassination Could Spark a War Against the United States]
In a statement, Bolton thanked federal authorities for identifying the threat and pressing criminal charges: "While not much can be said publicly at this time, one thing is indisputable: Iran's rulers are liars, terrorists, and enemies of the United States." ”.
“His radical and anti-American goals have not changed;
your commitments are worth nothing;
and its global threat is growing,” she added.
The charges came more than two and a half years after the United States killed Soleimani in an airstrike near Iraq's Baghdad airport.
The US believes that the Quds Force, a secret division of the Revolutionary Guards, supports terrorist groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.
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Iran called Soleimani's death an "insensitive terrorist act" and sanctioned US officials in response. Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged in April before Congress that there had been threats against US officials.
Asked if the Revolutionary Guards were "trying to assassinate high-ranking officers," Blinken replied, "I'm not sure what I can say publicly, but let me say in general terms that there is a constant threat against American officers, both current as before”.
“We will make sure for as long as it takes to protect our people, current and former, if they are threatened,” he added at a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing.
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Iran introduced sanctions against some 50 Americans in January, days after the second anniversary of Soleimani's death.
The sanctions applied to Bolton;
former President Donald Trump;
former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and others, for the "role they played in the terrorist act of the United States against the general and martyr Qassem Soleimani and his companions," according to Iran.
"Make no mistake: The United States will protect and defend its citizens," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement Wednesday.
"We have our political disagreements, but we are united in our resolve against threats and provocations, in defense of our people," he said.
