Source: Patch One Knife
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Pompeo and Bolton, who are known online as Trump's "hum ha two generals", were "assassinated" by Iranian agents?
A new U.S. Department of Justice filing describes a series of Hollywood blockbuster "conspiratorial assassinations": the so-called "Iranian agent" allegedly from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who bid $1 million and $300,000 respectively to "kill" Pompeo and Bolton, and was entrusted to the FBI "confidential informant"...
The official statement of the United States coupled with the "enthusiastic speculation" of the US media made this "accusation" quickly become a hot spot in international public opinion, but it was also immediately severely refuted by the Iranian side.
A spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry criticized the U.S. allegations as baseless and politically motivated, and sternly warned the United States not to take any action against Iranian citizens.
And this "dramatic interaction" between the United States and Iran happened to take place at a special moment.
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The U.S. Department of Justice described a Hollywood blockbuster-style "assassination conspiracy."
The accused, Shahram Pursafe, 45, a member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was referred to as "an Iranian agent" in US media reports. U.S. prosecutors say it may be retaliation for the killing of senior Iranian general Sulaimani in January 2020.
The allegation document sorts out the "planning process" like this:
At first, Pursafee contacted a person in the United States and asked him to take a picture of Bolton for a book he was working on. But coincidentally, this "person in the United States" happens to be a "confidential informant" working for the FBI.
Then, Pursafee asked if the informant could hire a killer to "get rid of a man," and the target was later confirmed to be Bolton. The allegations said Pulsafee bid $300,000 and promised to protect the informant and killer afterwards.
The indictment says Pulsafe also made some detailed "recommendations" about the assassination, such as where and how it was carried out, with a particular reminder that Bolton had a habit of walking alone.
In addition to killing Bolton, the "Iranian agent" said he had "another job" and offered it even higher, $1 million.
Who is this second target? The allegations were not stated in the documents. But CNN and Axios and other US media outlets have inquired in many ways, saying that sources close to Pompeo confirmed that the former US secretary of state is the intended target. As early as last week, the U.S. Department of Justice notified him.
As soon as the "dramatic" accusations of the US Department of Justice came out, they immediately attracted the interest of the US media.
Almost all of the relevant reports describe Bolton and Pompeo's tough stance against Iraq, as well as their various anti-Iraq and anti-Iraq words and deeds during their tenure. To some extent, this made the two men "believable" to become the targets of assassination by Iranian agents.
For example, Bolton has supported the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA when he was the president's national security adviser, and the Trump administration has indeed done so. What about Pompeo? When the U.S. military killed Soleimani, he was serving as secretary of state.
Bolton was quick to issue a statement thanking the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI and the Secret Service for their "efforts." That night, he responded further on a CNN talk show. While jokingly saying that he was "embarrassed by such a low assassination price," he also made all kinds of harsh remarks about Iran, the core meaning of which was that Iran was "an enemy of the United States."
After the U.S. Department of Justice announced the charges, Sullivan, the current presidential national security adviser, also came out to say that Iran would face serious consequences if it attacked U.S. citizens, "including those who are or have served the United States."
U.S. prosecutors said that this "Iranian agent Pursafee" was accused of conspiring to buy murder and could be sentenced to up to 10 years; Second, he was charged with attempting to provide material support for transnational murder, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The FBI issued a wanted warrant on the 10th, but it is said that Pulsaffi is now in Iran, and there is no extradition agreement between the United States and Iran.
The allegations, wanted, warnings and speculation reports of the US Department of Justice, the FBI, together with senior White House officials and a number of US media "going forward and following", made the news that "Iranian agents tried to assassinate two senior officials during the Trump era" immediately become the focus of international public opinion.
The Response from iran came very quickly.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Kanani refuted it that night, criticizing the US allegations as baseless, with political purposes and motives, "aimed at creating an atmosphere and trying to evade the countless terrorist crimes committed by the US government, such as assassinating senior Iranian general Sulaimani, supporting the Israeli regime, and supporting terrorist organizations."
He also said the U.S. endless accusations against Iran and the failed Iran policy continue. Iran strongly warns the United States not to take any action against Iranian citizens under the pretext of these absurd allegations, and that Iran will reserve the right to defend the Government and people within the framework of international law.
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The timing of this "assassination" drama is intriguing.
Just three days ago, on August 8, a new round of Vienna talks aimed at lifting sanctions against Iran by the United States and resuming the implementation of the Iranian nuclear agreement by all parties came to an end. The Iranian negotiating team returned to Tehran on the same day.
On the same day, the EU submitted a "final text" to the parties to the Iranian nuclear negotiations on the resumption of implementation of the 2015 Iranian nuclear agreement.
Iran's statement on this is almost the same as before: "The final agreement must meet the rights and interests of the Iranian people and ensure the sustainable lifting of sanctions on Iran." ”
Today, it is at a critical juncture when the United States and Iran are making political decisions about this "final text."
Ding Long, a professor at the Institute of Middle East Studies at Shanghai University of Foreign Chinese, told The Supplement that one of the bottlenecks in the Iranian nuclear negotiations has always been the characterization of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Now that this so-called "assassination" drama has been broken, it shows from the side that there are still big differences between the United States and Iran around this issue, and Washington has created a public opinion atmosphere of so-called "the Revolutionary Guards are terrorist organizations" and tried to exert pressure on Tehran from the periphery.
The United States and Iran have long been at loggerheads over whether to remove the Revolutionary Guards from the list of terrorist organizations.
In Washington's view, the qualitative issue of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is not related to the Iranian nuclear issue.
Tehran's attitude towards this is that "the Revolutionary Guards are a national army, and it is unacceptable to classify the national army as a terrorist organization". Tehran also believes that if the Pre-2018 Iranian Nuclear Agreement is resumed, it is reasonable to cancel all U.S. sanctions on Iran since 2018.
The Wall Street Journal therefore sees whether or not to remove the Revolutionary Guards from the list of terrorist organizations as perhaps the most politically sensitive issue in the Iran nuclear negotiations.
Ding Long said that on the issue of the characterization of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, the conservative forces in the domestic politics of the United States have exerted a lot of pressure, and Israel also holds an opposing attitude towards this, while the Iranian side is also very insistent, and there is no room for the United States and Iran to compromise on this for the time being.
In addition to the issue of the characterization of the Revolutionary Guards, there is another important disagreement in the Iranian nuclear negotiations. That is, Iran asks the United States to give a commitment, no matter how the US government changes in the future, the Iranian nuclear agreement cannot be abrogated again.
Tehran's fears are realistic.
During the Obama administration, he signed a nuclear agreement with Iran, but after Trump took office, he unilaterally withdrew from the Iranian nuclear agreement and restarted large-scale sanctions on Iran.
However, Washington cannot make such a guarantee.
The United States does not have any readily available laws that would allow it to sign any agreement with Iran that would bind the future U.S. government. If a legally binding treaty is to be reached, it will have to be approved by both houses of Senate and House, which is quite difficult for the Biden administration.
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In fact, in recent times, the complex game of back and forth between the United States and Iran has also cast a shadow on the current Iranian nuclear negotiations.
Biden's trip to the Middle East in mid-July "tried to slow down Iran's accelerating nuclear program." However, Biden made a statement in Israel on July 13: "The United States does not rule out the use of force as a 'last resort' to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons."
By July 16, the last day of Biden's trip to the Middle East, the Iranian government had announced sanctions against 61 Americans, including Pompeo and Bolton, on the grounds that "they support a terrorist organization in Iran."
Immediately after, Iran's Foreign Ministry said the United States was trying to use "Iranophobia" to create regional tensions.
In this regard, the US Fox News Network believes that "Biden's trip to the Middle East did not provide a guarantee for the resumption of the Iranian nuclear agreement, (on the contrary) undermined the possibility of the parties reaching any agreement."
Indeed, after Biden's visit, the Middle East became more incessant.
On July 18, the Chief of the IDF General Staff announced that Tel Aviv "is developing a military plan to launch an attack against the 'Iranian nuclear threat.'"
On the same day, a senior Iranian government official publicly stated that "Iran is fully capable of building a nuclear bomb, but we have not decided to do so."
Entering August, U.S.-Iran relations still did not see a easing trend.
On the 1st, the US Treasury Department put 6 companies and a ship on the sanctions list on the grounds of "being associated with Iran". Iran responded the next day to the latest round of sanctions: it decided to turn in hundreds of new centrifuges.
The next thing is what was mentioned before.
Today, it seems that the United States and Iran still seriously lack mutual trust, and the prospects for the Iranian nuclear negotiations may be difficult to be optimistic.
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