The Department of Justice (DoJ) has charged Iranian national Shahram Poursafi with attempting to assassinate John Bolton. Poursafi is part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of Iran's Army created by Ayatollah Khomeini.
Bolton took this threat as a joke. When he learned that they were going to pay $30,000 for his head, he said he was embarrassed by the little money offered: "I would have thought it would be higher.
Wolf Blitzer: Iran put a $300,000 price tag on your head. What goes through your mind hearing the details of the plot?@AmbJohnBolton: I was embarrassed at the low price, I would have thought it would have been higher. Maybe it was an exchange rate problem or something. pic.twitter.com/8ymugLzhWx
— Gabriel Noronha (@GLNoronha) August 11, 2022
The DoJ statement mentions the attempt to end the life of another person, in addition to that of Bolton. According to Axios, that other person would be none other than Mike Pompeo, who has been CIA director and Secretary of State under Donald Trump. Pompeo is in favor of abandoning the pact signed by President Barack Obama with Iran for the development of nuclear technology.
John Bolton, a Republican diplomat, has served as Deputy Secretary of State, Ambassador to the United Nations and National Security Advisor. Bolton is a foreign policy hawk, and advocates U.S. intervention in Iran, among other states, to impose regime change. Iran has seen how the United States has done it in neighboring Iraq, and has begun a race to obtain nuclear weapons to strengthen its position and prevent an American intervention. That race has raised enormous concern in the various federal governments, and reinforces the position of those who, like John Bolton, believe that intervention would ultimately be necessary to prevent it.
Revenge
The DoJ statement shows that in October 2021 Shahram Poursafi, aka Mehdi Rezayi, 45, attempted to pay $300,000 to U.S. citizens to carry out the murders. The immediate justification would be the death of Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian major general, following an attack carried out by the United States in January 2020 at Baghdad airport.
Department of Justice press release:
