In the aftermath of the revelations of the American justice affirming that a member of the Guards of the revolution, ideological army of the Republic of Iran, had hatched a plot to assassinate John Bolton, former adviser to the national security of the White House, the Iran rejected, Thursday, August 11, these accusations.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani called them "ridiculous".

“American judicial authorities have brought charges without providing valid evidence,” he denounced.

The day before, the US Department of Justice announced that Shahram Poursafi, alias Mehdi Rezayi, 45, was charged in his absence with offering to pay $300,000 to individuals in the United States to kill John Bolton, who was also United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

The plot, apparently intended to avenge the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, killed in January 2020 in an American strike, was revealed to the authorities by the person supposed to assassinate John Bolton, whose identity has not been disclosed.

A cryptocurrency account

The case comes as the Iranian regime studies a compromise presented by the European Union to save the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, moribund since the withdrawal of the United States in 2018 at the instigation of Donald Trump, then advised by John Bolton.

For months, Tehran has tied any deal to a removal of the Revolutionary Guards, the Islamic Republic's ideological army, from the US blacklist of terrorist organizations.

"This is not the first time we have uncovered a plot by Iran to seek revenge on American soil and we will work tirelessly to uncover and prevent each such attempt," the deputy minister of security said. Justice, Matthew Olsen.

According to the indictment, in late 2021, Shahram Poursafi came into contact with a person believed to be carrying out the assassination, who was actually a Federal Police (FBI) informant.

Shahram Poursafi ordered him to open a cryptocurrency account, then gave him the business address of Donald Trump's former adviser, before urging him to put the plan into action before the anniversary of Qassem Soleimani's death .

The powerful Iranian general, architect of Iran's strategy in the Middle East, was the head of the Quds Force, the unit in charge of external operations within the Revolutionary Guards.

He was killed on January 3, 2020 in a drone strike in Baghdad.

The anniversary date passed, Shahram Poursafi continued to push the informant to kill John Bolton, promising him a million dollar contract for a second target if he succeeded.

The FBI has published a wanted poster for Shahram Poursafi with several photos, two of which show him wearing the Revolutionary Guards uniform.

"During their exchanges, the confidential source repeatedly referred to Shahram Poursafi as being linked to the Quds Force. Poursafi never denied," noted the American justice.

If arrested, which is unlikely as he is likely to be in Iran, Shahram Poursafi faces up to 25 years in prison.

Bolton informed of the plot                

John Bolton, Donald Trump's national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019, called the 2015 nuclear deal a "major strategic mistake".

He had publicly supported Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from this pact, known by its English acronym JCPOA, which aims to guarantee the civilian nature of Iran's nuclear program.

The indictment states that John Bolton had been informed of the plot and cooperated with investigators, allowing photos of him taken outside his offices in Washington to be sent to Shahram Poursafi.

In a statement, John Bolton called Iranian officials "liars, terrorists and enemies of the United States".

Current White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan tweeted that Tehran faces "severe consequences" if it attacks current or past US officials.

American justice has not identified the second target, but according to the Axios site, it is the former head of diplomacy Mike Pompeo.

Citing a source close to the former secretary of state, Axios said the justice ministry had "confirmed directly" to him that he was one of the targets.

Along with John Bolton, Mike Pompeo was one of the main architects of the Trump administration's policy of "maximum pressure" on Iran.

With AFP

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