The US Department of Justice has charged a member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with allegedly preparing to kill John Bolton, former national security adviser to the former president Donald Trump.

According to the indictment, the suspect Sharam Pursafi (45), who is unavailable to US authorities and is in Iran, tried to recruit people to kill Bolton in Maryland or the District of Columbia.

If caught and convicted, Pursafi faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and a fine of up to half a million dollars for using domestic commercial facilities to organize a planned murder, to provide or attempt to provide material support and for international conspiracy to murder.

According to Washington officials, Bolton's killing would be revenge for the US assassination of Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020.