President Donald Trump is reportedly at the top of Iran’s assassination list, according to the former White House national security adviser John Bolton. Bolton made this claim during his appearance on Sky News’ program “The World,” where he discussed Iran’s extensive terror network in Europe and the United States.
Bolton, who was part of Trump’s administration as National Security Adviser from 2018 to 2019, stated that several U.S. government officials have been marked for assassination by Iran. This comes as retaliation for the January 2020 death of Qasem Soleimani, a top Iranian military leader, in a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad Airport, Iraq.
“President Trump is at the top of their list of their targets,” Bolton stated in the interview. He also mentioned that he is on Iran’s hit list, but emphasized that Trump is the primary target.
Soleimani was a major general in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and led its Quds Force, responsible for extraterritorial and clandestine operations. The U.S. had labeled Soleimani as a terrorist. Before his death, he was one of the most influential figures in Iran, second only to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Bolton claimed that Iran recruits criminal elements to execute its assassination plans, particularly “Eastern European criminal gangs and others.” This matches intelligence reports indicating Iran’s increasing reliance on criminal networks in Europe to attack perceived adversaries.
In 2022, the U.S. Justice Department issued an arrest warrant for Iranian national Shahram Poursafi for allegedly plotting Bolton’s assassination. Court documents stated that Poursafi, a member of the IRGC, tried to pay individuals in the U.S. up to $300,000 to kill Bolton in Washington, D.C., or Maryland. Poursafi remains at large in Iran.
Bolton informed Sky News that the threat against him and other former officials persists. “I’m not the only person in addition to Trump,” he noted, adding that other former cabinet officials are also targeted due to their roles in the U.S. government.
The former national security adviser warned that if Iran succeeds in targeting a senior U.S. official, it could be considered an “act of war,” describing such actions as “really dangerous.”
Bolton’s warning comes amid increasing concern over Iran’s use of criminal networks as proxies in Europe and North America. Security agencies in various countries have documented Iran’s growing cooperation with organized crime groups for surveillance, intimidation, and attacks on Iranian dissidents, Israeli and Jewish targets, and Western government officials.
MI5 Director General Ken McCallum revealed in May that since January 2022, British authorities have faced 20 Iranian-backed plots against UK citizens and residents. He commented that “Iranian state actors make extensive use of criminals as proxies” in these operations.
Intelligence agencies in Sweden and Israel recently disclosed that Iran has been using Swedish criminal gangs like Foxtrot and Rumba to target Israeli and Jewish facilities in Europe. The Swedish Security Service (Säpo) confirmed in May 2024 that “Iran has been for several years carrying out activities inside the country that threaten security,” often employing criminal networks as proxies.
Since the 2018 thwarted Iranian bomb plot in Paris, which led to the arrest and conviction of an Iranian diplomat, Tehran has adjusted its tactics to maintain a greater distance from its overseas operations. According to the French domestic intelligence service DGSI, Iranian intelligence has “adapted their modus operandi and now more systematically prefer to use people from criminal circles” for foreign attacks.
The targets of these operations now include American and European government officials involved in actions against Iranian interests, particularly those engaged in the decision to kill Soleimani.
Despite Bolton’s current warnings about the Iranian threat, his relationship with President Trump has been tense since leaving the administration. Bolton has become a vocal critic of the president and once considered running against him. He described working in the Trump White House as being “like living inside a pinball machine.”
Bolton revealed that Trump had withdrawn his government security protection upon returning to office in January 2025. “On what one might have thought was a pretty busy inauguration day, President Trump had the time to cancel my Secret Service protection,” Bolton stated. He warned that this action “sends a very bad signal to adversaries of the United States around the world.”
Bolton confirmed he has since privately arranged security to replace the Secret Service detail. He expressed concern that Trump’s actions could “have an effect on decision making” for officials in the current administration if they see what happens to those who “fall out of Trump’s favor.”
The U.S. government has taken unprecedented measures to protect some former officials targeted by Iran, but others, particularly former White House officials no longer in favor, have had to secure their own protection.
In October 2024, the Biden administration offered a reward of up to $20 million for information on Shahram Poursafi, the Iranian operative accused of plotting to kill Bolton. This reward followed intelligence briefings to then-presidential candidate Trump about an Iranian assassination plot against him.
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged several individuals connected to Iranian plots against American citizens and former officials in recent years, underscoring the ongoing threat from Tehran’s operatives and criminal proxies.