Leaked Info Reveals Details About John Bolton Terror Plot
A Syria-based commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s Qods (Quds) extraterritorial force was behind a failed operation to assassinate two former US officials.
A Syria-based commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s Qods (Quds) extraterritorial force was behind a failed operation to assassinate two former US officials.
Hacktivist group Backdoor (3ackd0or) provided Iran International with documents that proves Mohammad-Reza Ansari, was one of the commanders of the Quds Force unit 840 based in Syria who led the operation to assassinate former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former national security advisor John Bolton, apparently in retaliation for the US targeted killing of top IRGC commander General Qasem Soleimani.
Soleimani was killed in Baghdad along with nine others in January 2020 by a drone strike ordered by President Donald Trump, a huge blow to the regime, which was heavily dependent on him to lead its proxies across the region. Many Islamic Republic officials and military commanders have vowed revenge for Soleimani, and every year around the time of his death anniversary, such threats are echoed by the regime.
According to the leaked documents, an IRGC envoy went to Washington January 16, 2022, to carry out the plan, but the IRGC was not unaware that an individual hired to kill Bolton in exchange for $300,000 was actually an FBI informant.
The planner of the botched plot, who had recruited agents in the United States, was Shahram Poursafi, who was charged by the Department of Justice in August with plotting to assassinate Bolton. Poursafi is a 46-year-old Quds Force officer operating under the pseudonym "Mehdi Rezaei".
The Justice Department statement cited court documents suggesting Poursafi launched the plan to kill Bolton, either in Washington, the District of Columbia, or Maryland in October 2021 by asking an unnamed individual – whom he met online – to take photographs of Bolton, ostensibly for a book Poursafi was writing. The individual concerned introduced Poursafi to a second person whom he offered $250,000, later increased to $300,00, to eliminate the ex-presidential advisor.
Poursafi, who is at large, had told the hired “killer” about the job that it did not matter how the murder was carried out but that he would need video confirmation of Bolton’s death. He had emphasized that it is better to assassinate Bolton before the second anniversary of Qassem Soleimani's death. Poursafi also promised the person to pay $1 million for his next target, who was supposed to be Pompeo. Poursafi is now apparently in Iran and participates in clubhouse chat rooms with his photo and under the name of "Mehdi Rezaei," defending the policies of the IRGC and the Islamic Republic.
Poursafi, along with Mohammad Hossein Shahmoradi an intelligence commander in Tehran and Abolfazl Alizade, is a member of the team headed by Mohammad Reza Ansari, who is one of the commanders of Unit 840 of the Quds Force and is stationed in Syria.
Unit 840 is a very secretive group within the Quds Force and there are usually no photos of its members available. The unit’s mission is to conduct operations against Western targets and Iranian opposition groups and individuals. There is no mention of Unit 840 in Iranian media. The existence of such a unit has only been reported by Israeli media which in November 2020 reported that Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had accused Unit 840 of placing explosives at the Syrian border. Colonel Hassan Sayyad-Khodaei, who was shot dead behind the wheel of his car outside his home in Tehran on May 2022 was one of the previous commanders of the elite Qods Unit 840.
British Foreign Minister James Cleverly said during a session at the parliament on Tuesday that the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), in partnership with the Home Office, had ensured that the Iranian journalists were protected by the British police.
“The UK remains absolutely determined to ensure that Iran does not intimidate people within this country. We will always stand up to the aggression from foreign nations,” he noted, adding, “We will absolutely not tolerate threats, particularly towards journalists who are highlighting what is going on in Iran, or indeed any other individual living in the UK.”
One day later, Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib in a television interview repeated threats to “punish all those” who had a role in popular protests against the regime, wherever they might be.
Khatib on November 9 had said the Islamic Republic regards Iran International as “a terrorist organization,” adding that its workers and anyone affiliated with the channel will be pursued by the Ministry of Intelligence all over the globe.
In November, Volant Media, the parent company of Iran International, said that two of its journalists had been notified of direct threats. It said in a statement the Metropolitan Police had formally notified both journalists that these threats represent an imminent, credible and significant risk to their lives and those of their families. Ken McCallum — the head of MI5, the UK’s domestic counter-intelligence and security agency -- said on November 16 that UK authorities have discovered at least 10 “potential threats” since January to “kidnap or even kill British or UK-based individuals perceived as enemies of the regime.”
Expressing the UK’s commitment to hold the Islamic Republic to account, Cleverly said, “These protests in Iran are a watershed moment. After years of repression, the Iranian people have clearly had enough. They are standing up to the authoritarian regime under which they live. Sadly, the regime has responded in the only way it knows: with violence.”
He went on to say the UK has imposed more than 300 sanctions -- including sanctioning the Islamic Revolutionary Guard in its entirety, adding “We will continue to work with partners to challenge the regime’s aggression at home and its disruptive behavior in the region.”
Declining to disclose plans to hit the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) with further punitive measures after Iran International staff were given armed police protection, he said that it was “counterproductive to detail what future sanctions and designations might be brought in to ensure that the targets of those sanctions do not in any way try to evade the sanctions before they’re brought in”.
Also on Tuesday, UK security minister Tom Tugendhat said that Britain is facing growing interference, threats and influence from state actors including Iran, warning the “emerging era of state-based threats” poses “a challenge to our future and to our society” as well as to freedom of speech in the UK and residents' way of life. “They are threats not just to life — they are threats to our way of life,” he said at London-based think tank Policy Exchange.
The security minister said the Islamic regime’s crackdown on anyone it perceives as a threat to its authority had extended to Britain, noting that “Iran's malign behavior in the Middle East directly threatens our partners and our interests.”
“They are brutally suppressing courageous people in the streets who are calling for an end to the control of a corrupt and corrupted religious security elite claiming authority from God. All of this is clear, much of it has been clear for some time. What’s new is that we’re seeing this grow at home,” he said.
“Since Ken McCallum’s speech just a few weeks ago we’ve seen even more out of Iran,” Tugendhat said. “This is not and has not yet finished.”
Faced with nationwide antigovernment protests since mid-September, the Islamic Republic has blamed foreign-based Persian broadcasters such as BBC Persian and Iran International of “fomenting unrest”, while all media in the country are under tight government control and present protesters as “rioters” and “terrorists”.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that air-defense systems shot down 10 Iranian-made Shahed drones and that there were explosions in the central Shevchenkivskyi district.
The Kyiv administration said that according to preliminary information, two administrative buildings in Shevchenkivskyi were damaged and information about potential casualties was being clarified.
The United States warned about Iran planning to deliver Shahed Kamikaze drones to Russia in July, something Iran has repeatedly denied, only conceding that it gave “some drones” to Russia before the Ukraine war began.
Russia began using the Iranian drones mostly against civilian targets in early October, with hundreds launched so far, but most shot down before reaching their targets.
Washington could announce a decision as soon as Thursday on providing the Patriot, two officials told Reuters on Tuesday. The Patriot is considered one of the most advanced U.S. air defense systems and is usually in short supply, with allies around the world vying for it.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned NATO against equipping Kyiv with Patriot missile defenses, and it is likely the Kremlin will view the move as an escalation.
But there have been Western reports in the past weeks of possible Iranian missile deliveries to Russia as its arsenal is running out due to extensive use against Ukrainian infrastructure targets that are now well defended with multiple systems, but not full proof.
The Patriot system would help Ukraine defend against waves of Russian missile and drone attacks that have pounded the country's energy infrastructure.
The United States and its European allies have also imposed rounds of sanctions against Iranian individuals and entities for their involvement in supplying drones to Russia. The latest instance of such sanctions was announced by the United Kingdom on Tuesday.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said UK sanctions were “taking the wheels off the Russian war machine.” A press release referred to “information” released by the US December 9 - apparently a statement by White House Security spokesman John Kirby - showing Iran had become “one of Russia’s top military backers.”
Gaining Patriot air defense capability would be "very, very significant" for the Kyiv government, said Alexander Vindman, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and onetime leader of Ukraine policy at the White House.
"These are going to be quite capable of dealing with a lot of different challenges the Ukrainians have, especially if the Russians bring in short-range ballistic missiles" from Iran.
Kyiv held high-level military talks on Tuesday with Washington, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office said. The United States has given Ukraine $19.3 billion in military assistance since Russia's invasion on Feb. 24.
One of the US officials said Ukrainian forces would likely be trained in Germany before the Patriot equipment was delivered. Vindman said the training could take several months.
The Pentagon says Russia's recent surge in missile strikes is partly designed to exhaust Ukraine's supplies of air defenses so it can dominate the skies above the country.
For that reason, the United States and its allies have been delivering more air defenses to Kyiv, everything from Soviet-era systems to more modern, Western ones. Washington has provided NASAMS air defense systems that the Pentagon says have flawlessly intercepted Russian missiles in Ukraine.
With reporting by Reuters
In a confidential warning to its clients seen by Iran International, London-based Lloyds Marine Insurance Company said that the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah illegally send gold from Venezuela to Iran to finance the terrorist activities of Tehran-backed militias in Lebanon, bypassing sanctions.
The document issued on October 28 is titled: Illicit trade and transfer of gold and Iranian oil – IRGC Quds Force and Hezbollah.
“The purpose of this e-alert is to inform the market of the illicit shipment of gold by the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah from Venezuela to Iran to raise funds for terrorist activities, facilitated by the sale of Iranian oil, in contravention of sanctions,” reads the letter.
Lloyds further added that flights from Caracas to Tehran via Mahan Air are being used as an illicit channel to ship gold to pay for Iranian oil, in breach of applicable sanctions.
Mahan Air is a privately owned Iranian airline linked to the IRGC sanctioned by US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for weapons transfers.
“The gold is then sold in Turkey, and other Middle Eastern countries, to generate funds for terrorist activity,” the leaked document alleged.
Lloyds also identifies some people who have been easing the illegal shipment of gold from Venezuela on behalf of the IRGC Qods Force.
The first actor, according to Lloyds, is Hezbollah’s representative in Iran Ali Kassir, who is also a US OFAC designee under the SDGT program (Global Sanctions Regulation against Terrorism).
The other is Muhammad Jaafar Kassir, who is a senior Hezbollah official also designated by OFAC for his illegal activities linked with the militant group.
The Iranian airline Mahan Air is introduced as the third actor in the unlawful acquisition and shipment of gold from Venezuela on behalf of the IRGC Quds Force.
World’s largest marine insurance company has also called on its clients to observe enhanced due diligence measures if any of the entities mentioned are involved, as the coverage provided could indirectly expose the managing agents to risks of terrorist financing, money laundering and tax evasion.
US former Special Representative for Venezuela, Elliot Abrams for the first time in April 2020 announced that Iran is receiving gold for sending gasoline to Caracas.
Iranian officials denied receiving payment for fuel shipped to Venezuela by that time. However, Yahya Rahim-Safavi, a top Revolutionary Guards officer, who is Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's advisor in military affairs, told state media later in 2020 that “We gave gasoline to Venezuela and received gold bullion and we brought the gold with airplanes to Iran to prevent any incident during transit.”
Argentina grounded an Iran-linked Venezuelan Boeing 747 cargo plane on June 12, 2022 after it landed in Buenos Aires without any prior announcements.
Washington on August 3 asked permission to confiscate the plane impounded in Argentina on suspicions of links to international terrorist groups.
Based on revealed documents, there are other airplanes that are used for taking gold from Caracas to Tehran, but the seizure and future confiscation of the Boeing, which is already in Ezeiza airport in Buenos Aires, is a major step to erode Hezbollah’s economic resources.
The illegal gold sale operation revealed by the Lloyd’s company was also facilitated by a fixer called Seyed Badroddin Naiemael Moosavi.
The 47-year-old Iranian businessman controlled the load of gold that he obtained at a discounted price in exchange for the oil shipments to Venezuela. He was the person, who sold the golds on the black market in Turkey, and as a result millions of dollars were used to finance Hezbollah’s terrorist acts in the Middle East.