Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani dismissed US accusations that an Iranian national had plotted to kill former US national security adviser John Bolton. Kanani described the allegation as "threadbare myths" and a failed policy by the US judicial and propaganda system.  

The reaction came one day after the US Justice Department linked an Iranian identified as Shahram Poursafi to an alleged assassination plot starting in October 2021, targeting Bolton. The Justice Department's press release says Poursafi is currently at large outside the United States and could face up to ten years if caught and convicted.   

According to the Iranian spokesperson, the accusation was "fictitious," "ridiculous" and "politically motivated," based on "no damning evidence" and "in continuation of an Iranophobia campaign." Kanani argued that the United States was diverting attention from its own accountability with regard to "various terrorist crimes" including the "cowardly assassination" of Qasem Soleimani, who had commanded the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and was killed in a US airstrike early 2020.    

The Justice Department says Poursafi was an IRGC member and was "likely" to have been moved to kill Bolton in revenge for Soleimani.