The FBI on Tuesday added a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to its Most Wanted Terrorists list, accusing him of soliciting the killings of two former U.S. government officials.
Shahram Poursafi allegedly recruited people to carry out the murders between October 2021 and April 2022, the FBI’s Washington Field Office said. Court documents describe an alleged plot aimed at former National Security Advisor John Bolton.
Investigators believe the plot was retaliation for the January 2020 U.S. strike that killed IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani. Soleimani led the Qods Force, one of the IRGC’s five divisions and the unit responsible for developing and executing lethal operations abroad.
Poursafi allegedly acted on behalf of the Qods Force and offered individuals in the United States as much as $300,000 to carry out the killing.
US OFFERS $20M FOR IRANIAN IN PLOT TARGETING TRUMP’S EX-NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER JOHN BOLTON
Shahram Poursafi allegedly offered $300,000 to have former National Security Advisor John Bolton killed. (Alex Kent/Getty Images/File; FBI)
The FBI also issued wanted posters seeking information about three alleged IRGC officials from the same Qods Force unit: Mohammad Reza Ansari, Abolfazl Alizadeh and Mohammad Hossein Shamoradizadeh.
Ansari is alleged to serve as a deputy who has supported IRGC operations in Syria. The FBI also says he helped plan and attempt to assassinate two former U.S. government officials with Poursafi’s assistance.
Alizadeh and Shamoradizadeh are both alleged battalion commanders who have taken part in lethal plotting operations.
Shahram Poursafi allegedly recruited individuals to kill U.S. officials between October 2021 and April 2022. (FBI )
A 2022 Justice Department complaint outlining the charges says Poursafi first asked a U.S. resident he had previously met online to photograph Bolton. He allegedly claimed the pictures were needed for a book he was writing.
Poursafi later offered another U.S. contact up to $300,000 to “eliminate” the former national security advisor. He also allegedly mentioned a second “job” that would pay $1 million.
According to the FBI, Ansari is a deputy in the IRGC Qods Force who has supported operations in Syria. (FBI)
The plan failed because the contact was a confidential human source working with the FBI, a term commonly used for civilian informants.
Poursafi was charged with using interstate communications or travel to arrange a paid assassination. The Justice Department complaint also accused him of providing resources or assistance for an international murder plot.
The FBI alleges that Alizadeh and Shamoradizadeh, both IRGC battalion commanders, participated in lethal plotting operations. (FBI)
The FBI’s Washington Field Office said it would continue disrupting lethal plots and pursuing IRGC members accused of threatening people in the United States.
“The FBI will not stand for the IRGC’s brazen attempts to silence, harm or murder activists, dissidents, journalists, public officials or anyone else it deems a threat,” said Gregory Heeb of the Washington Field Office’s Counterterrorism Division.
