The man who allegedly tried to hire a hitman to kill John Bolton was, by the FBI’s account, not very good at paying people. In April 2022, after months of messages, the supposed middleman finally coaxed $100, sent in two instalments, out of Shahram Poursafi.
The US Justice Department charged Poursafi on a Wednesday in August 2022. Officials say he is a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also known as Mehdi Rezayi, and that he offered $300,000 to have Bolton, the former Trump national security adviser, killed in Washington or neighboring Maryland. Prosecutors said the likely motive was revenge for the January 2020 drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, head of the Quds Force.
Iran called the accusations “ridiculous and baseless.” Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani warned against “any action against Iranian citizens” on that pretext.
What the affidavit says
According to an affidavit from FBI special agent Randi Beck, Poursafi contacted a US resident through social media during 2021. In October he asked for photographs of Bolton, saying they were for a book he was writing. That person introduced him to a second contact, who became an FBI source.
In early November, the affidavit says, Poursafi used an encrypted messaging app to ask the source to find someone who could “eliminate” a target for $200,000, with a further $50,000 as a finder’s fee. The source reported back that a candidate had been found, supposedly a Mexican national with cartel links, but wanted more. Poursafi checked with his superiors and agreed to $300,000 in total.
His first suggested method was a car, because Bolton often walked in a park. He said “his group” could protect the source and the assassin afterward. He also dangled a second job, paid at $1m. Asked about his experience, Poursafi allegedly replied that killing was like crossing the street: better not to spend too long looking one way, but just to do it.
The source asked for money up front. Poursafi said no one could get pre-payment because of a recently failed operation, which was never identified. In December 2021 he sent pictures of two plastic bags of dollar bundles, labelled with the source’s name and the date. At one point he said he was under pressure from “his people” to move fast.
By then, the affidavit says, the FBI had hacked Poursafi’s online accounts and could read both sides of the conversation. It could also see him searching the internet for Bolton. US authorities say Poursafi has never been to the US and is believed to have run the plot from Tehran.
Reaction
Matthew Olsen, the assistant attorney general for national security, said: “This is not the first time we have uncovered Iranian plots to exact revenge against individuals on US soil and we will work tirelessly to expose and disrupt every one of these efforts.”
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Iran would “face severe consequences” if it attacked any current or former US servant.
Bolton thanked the Justice Department, the FBI and the Secret Service. “While much cannot be said publicly right now, one point is indisputable: Iran’s rulers are liars, terrorists and enemies of the United States,” he said. He used the occasion to argue against a new nuclear deal with Tehran, then under negotiation. Secret Service cars had been reported outside his Washington-area home since early 2022. His office said the Trump administration gave him no protection after he left in September 2019, and that the Biden administration did.
Poursafi remains at large overseas. Conviction on the murder-for-hire charge carries up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. The material support charge carries up to 15 years and the same fine.
Sources
- US charges Iranian man over alleged plot to kill ex-Trump aide John Bolton
- Iranian Operative Charged in Plot To Murder John Bolton
