TEhran on Thursday dismissed “ridiculous” US court charges that a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had plotted to assassinate former White House national security adviser John Bolton.
The day before, the American Department of Justice had announced that Shahram Poursafi, alias Mehdi Rezayi, 45, was charged in his absence with having offered to pay 300,000 dollars to individuals in the United States to kill John Bolton, who was also ambassador from the United States 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 Mr. Bolton, whose identity has not been disclosed.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani on Thursday dismissed “ridiculous” US accusations.
“American judicial authorities have brought charges without providing valid evidence,” he denounced.
nuclear deal
The case comes at a time when the Iranian regime is considering a compromise presented by the European Union to save the 2015 Iranian nuclear agreement, moribund since the withdrawal of the United States in 2018 at the instigation of Donald Trump, then advised by John Bolton.
On Thursday, the deputy spokesman for the US State Department, Vedant Patel, assured that the United States was awaiting Tehran’s response.
“We and the Europeans have made it very clear that we are ready to immediately conclude and implement the Vienna-brokered agreement of mutual return to the JCPOA,” he told reporters, using the acronym for the JCPOA. ‘OK.
“To do this, Iran must drop its additional demands that go beyond” the deal. “In the end, it’s their choice,” he said.
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.
Cryptocurrency
“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 Wednesday. 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 Iranian 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 Mr Bolton, promising him a million dollar contract for a second target if he succeeded.
The FBI has published a wanted poster for Mr. Poursafi with several photos, two of which show him wearing the uniform of the Revolutionary Guards.
“During their exchanges, the confidential source repeatedly referred to Mr. 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 could face up to 25 years in prison.
“Severe” consequences
John Bolton, Donald Trump’s national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019, considered the 2015 nuclear deal a “major strategic mistake”, and publicly supported Mr Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States of this pact.
The indictment states that Mr. Bolton had been informed of the conspiracy and cooperated with investigators.
John Bolton told CNN on Thursday that it was important to note “how carefully the Iranian government had thought (about this project) and was engaged in the planning”.
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.
08/12/2022 00:42:49 – Tehran (AFP) – © 2022 AFP