The Justice Department has unsealed an indictment against a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for plotting to assassinate former national security adviser John Bolton.
Shahram Poursafi is accused of directing and paying U.S. residents to kill Bolton earlier this year. As I reported on March 7, the Biden administration was reluctant to issue or unseal the indictment in fear that it would disrupt negotiations toward a restoration of the 2015 JCPOA Iran nuclear accord.
An FBI affidavit notes in detail the IRGC’s effort to recruit an assassin on U.S. soil and the FBI’s recruitment of the IRGC’s desired assassin as a confidential source. Intelligence assessments suggest that Iran wants to assassinate a senior or former senior U.S. official to avenge the January 2020 U.S. killing of IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani. These threats led to Bolton being assigned a Secret Service security detail. Other Trump administration officials, notably former U.S. special representative for Iran Brian Hook and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have been provided costly government security details in the face of similar threats from Iran. The indictment only lists Poursafi. Based on source information, I had previously reported that at least two IRGC officers were controlling this plot against Bolton. This may suggest that a more senior IRGC official was left off the indictment sheet in furtherance of renegotiating the nuclear accord.
In a statement, Bolton thanked the Justice Department for disrupting the plot. Speaking to me later on Wednesday, Bolton suggested that the indictment “shows how totally untrustworthy the government of Iran is.” Referencing efforts to restore the 2015 nuclear accord, Bolton told me: “If anyone draws any lessons from what was unsealed today, it’s that the regime is the problem — they’re completely unreliable.”
There is rising speculation that an agreement to restore the accord might be reached in the next few days. Nevertheless, the joined theological and political motivation of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to avenge Soleimani’s death means that threats such as this one are likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
