The U.S. State Department is offering a reward to track down an Iranian national who tried to pay to have former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton killed.
The State Department is offering up to $20 million "for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Shahram Poursafi," a member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who attempted to pay an assassin to target Bolton.
Poursafi allegedly paid $300,000 to someone who had agreed to target Bolton, the State Department said.
"Poursafi allegedly provided material support and resources to facilitate the attempted killing. Poursafi told the potential assassin – who actually became a confidential source for U.S. investigators – that once he completed the Bolton murder he would have a second assassination job for him," the agency said in a release.
The Department of Justice indicted Poursafi in 2022. Under the charges, he faces up to 25 years in prison and fines of half a million dollars. In 2023, the U.S. Treasury designated Poursafi a terrorist, freezing his U.S. assets.
Poursafi remains at large.
Bolton, who held national security positions during the Bush and Trump administrations, only learned the specifics of the attempt on his life when the DOJ released its indictment.
He was "embarrassed at the low price" offered for the killing, he told CNN at the time.
