Iranians sanctioned over assassin plots

WASHINGTON — The U.S. imposed sanctions Thursday on an Iranian Revolutionary Guard official and others it says took part in wide-ranging plots to kill former national security adviser John Bolton and others around the world, including at least one additional U.S. government official.

The alleged 2021 plot against Bolton, one of the best-documented of the alleged assassination efforts, is part of what U.S. prosecutors and former government officials describe as ongoing efforts by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to kill Trump-era officials behind a 2020 U.S. airstrike that killed the head of the Iranian guard’s elite Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani.

In all, Thursday’s sanctions accuse three people based in Iran and Turkey, a company affiliated with Iran’s Quds Force and two senior officials of Iran’s Intelligence Organization in global plots to kill former U.S. officials, journalists and Iranian dissidents abroad, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

Brian E. Nelson, Treasury’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement the U.S. is focused on disrupting plots by the Iranian military, which has “engaged in numerous assassination attempts and other acts of violence and intimidation against those they deem enemies of the Iranian regime.”

Those sanctioned include Revolutionary Guard official Shahram Poursafi. U.S. prosecutors charged Poursafi last year with seeking to carry out a murder-for-hire, saying he worked to find a U.S.-based person willing to kill Bolton somewhere in the Washington area for $300,000.

Federal prosecutors say Poursafi also spoke of an “additional job” for which he was offering $1 million. Axios reported last year that the second target was former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, citing sources close to Pompeo. U.S. officials have reported “serious and credible” threats against the lives of Pompeo and his top Iran aide.