Iran paid a hitman £250,000 to kidnap and kill me – it was very nearly an act of war, says ex-US official
A FORMER US official claims that a hitman hired by Iran tried to assassinate him for £250,000 in an effort to take out its enemies.
John Bolton, former national security adviser, believes Iran tried to pay someone to either kidnap and kill him, potentially on US soil.
Since the Israel Hamas war broke out following the October 7 attacks by Hamas – tensions between the US and Iran have been rising.
Almost weekly Iranian-backed rebels have attacked American bases in Syria and Iraq.
Now Iran seems to have turned to a different form of proxy fighter; a hired gun, in what Bolton describes as an “act of war”.
But Bolton does not appear to be the only target, as the country appears to be hiring hitmen around the world in an effort to intimidate and take out its enemies.
A video posted online by a channel associated with the Iran Revolutionary Guard vows to kill former US officials like Bolton.
One of them is former president Donald Trump, as part of a plan to avenge the 2020 assassination of terrorism mastermind Qassem Soleimani.
The FBI has an arrest warrant out for the Iranian officer who they believe hired the hitman to take out Bolton.
The alleged plot would have him travel to Washington DC, corner Bolton in a garage and kill him.
Bolton said: “This was not internet chatter. This was a negotiation to murder an American citizen, a former government official.”
While the assassin turned out to be an FBI informant, Bolton still has Secret Service protection stationed outside of him home to protect him from the ongoing threat.
The FBI along with other intelligence agencies told CBS 60 minutes that Iran’s assassination efforts are become “more frequent” and “bolder”.
Counter Terror police in Britain have also seen an increase in similar attacks.
Fifteen kidnapping and assassination attempts have been foiled on UK soil in the last year alone.
Head of UK Counter Terrorism Matt Jukes told CBS: “I have been involved in national security policing for over 20 years. What we’ve seen in the last 18 months is a real acceleration.”
“I think we’re always gonna see this collaboration between criminal organisations. We know that this will not always be a direct line from a state organisation to a threat to a potential kidnapping.”
A foreign intelligence agency shared an intercepted call detailing how Tehran is hiring killers.
An Iranian smuggler from Urmia, near the Turkish border, can be heard telling intelligence agents that he was approached by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
They offered to turn a blind eye to his smuggling crimes if he helped them.
The smuggler can be heard saying: “Their request was that I find people who could work for them. What kind of work?
“‘Anything. Like: catching someone for us so they can be beaten up or gotten rid of.'”
One such person is alleged drug dealer Mansour Rasouli.
He reportedly agreed to assassinate three candidates chosen by Iran in exchange for a million dollars.
Weeks later he was kidnapped and interrogated, apparently by Israeli intellignece.
In his confession tape he identified the targets: “One is an Israeli at the embassy in Istanbul, Turkey. Another one is an American general in Germany. And one is a journalist in France.”