IRGC, Quds Force officials sanctioned by US for assassination plots

The Biden administration issued new sanctions on Thursday against officials of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Quds Force for plotting terrorist operations against US government officials as well as American-Iranians.

“The United States remains committed to exposing and disrupting plots by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to carry out violence abroad. For decades, the IRGC has engaged in many assassination attempts, terrorist plots, and other violence against those whom the Iranian regime views as enemies, including through ongoing plots against US citizens and former United States government officials,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

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Blinken said five people and a Turkey-based company affiliated with the Quds Force were sanctioned. “Today’s actions demonstrate that the United States will continue to expose and disrupt the regime’s terrorist activities and its efforts to silence opposing voices,” the top US diplomat said in a statement.

Last year, the US Justice Department charged a member of the IRGC for plotting to murder former National Security Advisor John Bolton. According to the Justice Department, working on behalf of the IRGC-QF, Poursafi tried to pay people inside the US $300,000 to carry out the assassination in Washington, DC or Maryland.

Quds Force official Mohammad Reza Ansari, who was sanctioned on Thursday, is accused of working with Poursafi to carry out the murder of Bolton and another US official, widely believed to be former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Former Special Envoy for Iran Brian Hook is also being provided government protection due to ongoing Iranian threats on his life.

The State Department reportedly pays more than $2 million per month for protection services for Pompeo and Hook.

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