Iranian charged with ex-Trump adviser’s conspiracy

The US has indicted members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard for plotting to kill former President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton.

The Justice Department said Wednesday that Shahram Pursafi, 45, also known as Tehran’s Mehdi Rezai, was avenging the death of Qasem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike. argued that he was likely motivated to kill Bolton. January 2020.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Iran does not have an extradition treaty with the United States and Pursafi is on the run. The FBI released a Most Wanted poster on Wednesday.

Washington believes the accusations should not affect negotiations with Tehran to revive the 2015 nuclear deal that saw Iran curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, US officials said. said on condition of anonymity.

But how Iran’s powerful political faction, the IRGC, which controls a business empire and an elite armed and intelligence force that Washington accuses of global terrorist activity, will react to the accusations. was not clear.

Indirect talks between the United States and Iran ended in Vienna on Monday, with European Union officials saying they had submitted final documents to revive the nuclear deal Trump abandoned in 2018.

According to the criminal complaint, Pursafi asked a U.S. resident, identified only as “Individual A,” to photograph Bolton, under the pretense that the photographs were needed for an upcoming book. The U.S. resident then referred her Poursafi to a secret government informant who could be photographed for a fee.

Investigators said Pursafi contacted an informant the following month via an encrypted messaging app and offered $250,000 ($352,956) to hire someone to “get rid” of Bolton. ($A423,547).

According to an affidavit supporting the accusations, when an informant asked Poursafi to be more specific with his demands, he wanted “that man” to be wiped out and changed his name to Bolton. provided.

He later instructed informants to open cryptocurrency accounts to facilitate payments. In a subsequent correspondence, he told his informant that it didn’t matter how the killing took place, but that his “group” would need the video as proof that the deed had taken place. .

In a statement on Twitter Wednesday, Bolton thanked the Justice Department for taking action.

“I can’t say much at this point, but one point is indisputable,” he said. “Iran’s rulers are liars, terrorists and enemies of the United States. “