US offers $20 mln reward for info on Iranian suspect in Bolton assassination plot

The United States is offering a $20 million (£15 million) reward for information leading to the arrest of Shahram Poursafi, an alleged member of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), who is accused of plotting to assassinate former National Security Advisor John Bolton.

Shahram Poursafi, a member of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), is accused of trying to hire criminals in the US to kill Bolton, a vocal Iran critic, in exchange for $300,000, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

The reward announcement comes in the same week that Trump said he had been briefed by US intelligence about an alleged Iranian assassination plot against him.

Iran has previously denied orchestrating any plots to assassinate Trump officials or interfere in US affairs.

Officials say that from October 2021 to April 2022 Poursafi attempted to hire "criminal elements within the United States" to murder Bolton in Washington DC or Maryland.

One of the potential assassins he contacted was a confidential source for US investigators, according to the state department.

Poursafi allegedly told that person that after completing the hit on Bolton, "he would have a second assassination job for him".

His alleged motivation was retaliation against the US for its assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, which was ordered by Trump when he was in the White House, according to officials.

The US Department of Justice charged Poursafi with the alleged murder plot in 2022 . He remains at large, and officials say he is not believed to be in the US.

Iranian Vice-President Mohammad Javad Zarif, in an interview with NBC News this week, denied accusations that his government has attempted to kill Iranian critics abroad.

“We do not assassinate people, but the fact of the matter is - they assassinated a revered Iranian general,” he said.

News.Az