Iran Dismisses US’ Baseless, Ridiculous Claims Regarding Plot to Kill John Bolton
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry vehemently rejected US accusations that an Iranian national had intended to kill John Bolton, calling such allegations a way to escape the responsibility of answering to numerous terrorist crimes committed directly by Washington or with its support.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that “the spinning of these threadbare and baseless myths is becoming a recurring custom in the American judicial and propaganda system.”
“This time, the process has been advanced by creating scenarios involving politically bankrupt and worthless individuals like Bolton,” he added, referring to the national security adviser to former US president Donald Trump.
“Continuing their endless accusations” against Tehran and “their failed Iranophobic policy, the American judicial authorities, in a new yarn spinning, have raised accusations without providing valid evidence and necessary documentation,” Kanaani stated.
He stressed that “such baseless claims are made with political motives and aims and in fact amount to … escaping the responsibility of responding to numerous terrorist crimes that the American government has either directly participated in, such as the cowardly assassination of Lt. General Martyr (Qassem) Soleimani, or like the terrorist crimes committed by the Zionist regime and terrorist groups like Daesh with the support of America.”
The Islamic Republic of Iran, Kanaani emphasized, strongly warns against any action against Iranian citizens under the pretext of these ridiculous accusations and reserves the right to take any action within the framework of international law to defend the rights of the government and citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The US Department of Justice claimed in a statement on Wednesday that a person named Shahram Poursafi, 45, also known as Mehdi Rezayi, "attempted to pay individuals in the United States $300,000 to carry out the murder (of Bolton) in Washington DC or Maryland."
According to the Justice Department, Poursafi was probably seeking retaliation for the US killing of top Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
On January 3, a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport assassinated General Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps. The attack — that also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) anti-terror group, along with several others— came while General Soleimani was on an official visit to the Iraqi capital.
The killings led to a major escalation of tensions between Tehran and Washington, with Iran officially responding by launching airstrikes against two Iraqi military bases housing US troops.
The Pentagon has since reported that at least 109 US servicemen have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries as the result of the strikes.
