The FBI has placed Shahram Poursafi, an operative of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), on its Most Wanted Terrorists list, accusing him of orchestrating a plot to murder former National Security Advisor John Bolton and another former U.S. government official. The alleged assassination attempts, which occurred between October 2021 and April 2022, are believed to be retaliation for the January 2020 killing of IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani. Poursafi, allegedly working for the IRGC’s Qods Force, is accused of offering up to $300,000 to individuals in the U.S. to carry out the assassination of Bolton, initially requesting photographs of the former advisor under the guise of research for a book, and later offering an additional $1 million for another unspecified task. The plot was thwarted when the contact Poursafi approached turned out to be a confidential human source working with the FBI. In conjunction with this action, the FBI also released wanted posters for three other alleged IRGC officials from the same unit, Mohammad Reza Ansari, Abolfazl Alizadeh, and Mohammad Hossein Shamoradizadeh, who are accused of involvement in lethal plotting operations and assassination attempts. The Justice Department has charged Poursafi with using interstate communication or travel to commit murder-for-hire and providing resources for an international murder plot, with the FBI vowing to continue disrupting such threats and bringing IRGC members to justice.
Adapted from: U.S. News Today on Fox News
