FBI Puts IRGC Operative Behind Alleged Bolton Murder Plot on Most Wanted Terrorists List
The FBI has added an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps operative accused of plotting to murder former national security adviser John Bolton to its Most Wanted Terrorists list, the FBI Washington Field Office announced on Tuesday, 10 November 2026.
Shahram Poursafi, also known as Mehdi Rezayi, 45, of Tehran, is accused of soliciting the murder of two former US government officials between October 2021 and April 2022. Court documents detail an alleged plot targeting Bolton, which investigators believe was planned as retaliation for the January 2020 killing of IRGC-Qods Force commander Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike.
The bureau also released seeking-information posters for three of Poursafi’s associates, all described as alleged officials in the IRGC-Qods Force.
A $300,000 offer — and a contact who was working for the FBI
According to court documents, Poursafi, working on behalf of the IRGC-Qods Force, sought to pay individuals in the United States $300,000 to carry out the murder. The plot never reached its target because the American contact Poursafi approached was working as an FBI confidential human source.
The Justice Department’s account of the case, set out in a complaint filed in August 2022, describes a slow, deliberate approach. On 22 October 2021, Poursafi asked a US resident he had previously met online to take photographs of Bolton, claiming the pictures were for a book he was writing. That person introduced Poursafi to an associate who turned out to be the confidential source.
On 9 November 2021, Poursafi contacted the source on an encrypted messaging app and offered $250,000 to hire someone to “eliminate” Bolton. The figure was later negotiated up to $300,000. Poursafi also told the source he had an additional “job”, for which he would pay $1 million.
Poursafi directed the source to open a cryptocurrency account to handle payment, but said the source would probably have to carry out the murder first. On 28 April 2022, the source told Poursafi he would not continue without being paid; Poursafi agreed to send $100 in cryptocurrency to a wallet the source had created that day, to prove payment was possible. The wallet received two payments totalling $100.
The complaint charged Poursafi with using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of a murder-for-hire and with providing and attempting to provide material support to a transnational murder plot. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on the murder-for-hire count, and up to 15 years and a fine of up to $250,000 on the material-support count. He remains at large abroad.
Three associates named in new posters
Alongside Poursafi’s listing, the FBI released seeking-information posters for three alleged IRGC-Qods Force officials: Mohammad Reza Ansari, Abolfazl Alizadeh and Mohammad Hossein Shamoradizadeh.
Ansari is a deputy in the Qods Force’s Unit 840 who has supported IRGC-Qods Force operations in Syria, according to the FBI. With Poursafi’s support, he allegedly planned and attempted to assassinate two former US government officials. Alizadeh and Shamoradizadeh are both battalion commanders in the Basij Imam Ali Battalion and have allegedly participated in lethal plotting.
In June 2023, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Ansari and Poursafi for acting on behalf of the IRGC-Qods Force.
“The FBI will not stand for the IRGC’s brazen attempts to silence, harm, or murder activists, dissidents, journalists, public officials, or anyone else it deems a threat,” said Gregory Heeb, special agent in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Counterterrorism Division. “We hope the publicity generated by these posters will help us continue to disrupt lethal plots and bring IRGC members to justice for threatening individuals within our borders.”
Unit 840 and the $20 million reward
The FBI describes Unit 840 as the part of the IRGC-Qods Force responsible for developing lethal plotting operations. Its commander, Asghar Bagheri, died in April 2026, according to the bureau.
The US State Department’s Rewards for Justice programme is offering a reward of up to $20 million for information that leads to Poursafi’s arrest and conviction. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov.
Placement on the list is a public appeal, not a conviction: the charges against Poursafi are allegations, and he is presumed innocent unless proved guilty in a court of law. No statement from Poursafi or from the Iranian government about the listing has been reported.
A wider pattern of alleged Iranian plotting
The listing comes as US officials have warned of Iranian threats against American officials and military bases. On Tuesday, the Justice Department charged three alleged Iranian-backed operatives over a series of plots in Europe, including an attempted attack tied to RAF Fairford in England. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent moved to a military base after Iranian threats, and the US moved tanker aircraft from RAF Mildenhall in England after a reported threat linked to Iran.
Four years after the alleged plot was disrupted, the bureau still wants Poursafi — and it is willing to put his face on its most prominent terrorism list to find him.
