AN IRANIAN OPERATIVE has been charged in connection with an alleged plot to murder former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton, the Justice Department said.

Shahram Poursafi, identified by US officials as a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is wanted by the FBI on charges related to the alleged murder-for-hire plot.

Prosecutors said the alleged act was likely in retaliation for the January 2020 strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force.

Poursafi, 45, offered $250,000 dollars (€240,000) to people in Maryland and the District of Columbia to carry out the killing, including providing a work address, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed in federal court in Washington.

I wish to thank the Justice Dept for initiating the criminal proceeding unsealed today; the FBI for its diligence in discovering and tracking the Iranian regime’s criminal threat to American citizens; and the Secret Service for providing protection against Tehran’s efforts. pic.twitter.com/QDjkX6gUWM

— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) August 10, 2022

In a statement, Bolton thanked the FBI and Justice Department.

“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.

Assistant attorney general Matthew Olsen, the Justice Department’s top national security official, said it was “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”.

Last January, Iran issued an arrest warrant for former US president Donald Trump, who was in power when Soleimani was killed in a Washington-directed drone attack.

The warrant was for a charge of premeditated murder, which carries the death penalty on conviction.

It was always unlikely to be carried out but symbolic in the waning days of Trump’s presidency.

Today’s charge came two days after negotiators seeking to revive the Iran nuclear accord in Vienna closed on a “final text” of an agreement, with parties now consulting in their capitals on whether to agree to it it.

The 2015 deal granted Iran sanctions relief in exchange for tight curbs on its atomic programme.

Since the US withdrew from the agreement under Trump, Iran has sped up its nuclear enrichment programme.

Bolton has been among the most hawkish critics of the deal and efforts by current President Joe Biden administration’s to rejoin it.