Iran rejects US charging an Iranian for plot to kill ex-Trump adviser as 'baseless'

Iran rejected as "baseless" the United States charging an Iranian with plotting to murder John Bolton, a national security adviser to then-President Donald Trump.

This comes after the US Justice Department said Wednesday it had uncovered an Iranian plot to kill Bolton, and announced charges against a member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

"Iran strongly warns against any action against Iranian citizens under the pretext of these ridiculous and baseless accusations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said, according to Iranian media.

The Justice Department said 45-year-old Shahram Poursafi had offered to pay an individual in the United States $300,000 to kill Bolton, the former ambassador to the United Nations.

The plan was likely set in retaliation for the US killing of top Guard commander Qasem Soleimani in Iraq in January 2020, the department said.

According to the charges, Poursafi is a member of the Guard's elite Quds Force.

The allegation came as Iran weighs a proposed deal to revive the 2015 agreement that aims to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.

(Reuters, AFP)