On Thursday, Iran dismissed US allegations of it plotting to kill former White House national security adviser John Bolton as retaliation for the assassination of one of its top commanders, Qasem Soleimani as "fiction".

The US claim comes at a time as talks on reviving the nuclear deal between Iran and European powers continue, especially since Washington had withdrawn from the deal in 2018 but has said it wants to rejoin. Iran is now considering what European Union mediators have called a "final" draft to reach an agreement.  

"The US Justice Department has made allegations without providing valid evidence, creating a new work of fiction," Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani stated, adding: "This time they have come up with a plot involving individuals like Bolton whose political career has failed,... the Islamic Republic warns against any action that targets Iranian citizens by resorting to ridiculous accusations." 

The US Justice Department announced on Wednesday it had dodged a plot by a member of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) to kill Bolton, and that it had hired an unidentified person inside the United States to carry out the job, offering an alleged $300,000. 

The department claimed the alleged plan was likely set in retaliation for the US killing of top Guards commander Qasem Soleimani in Iraq in January 2020.

The plot, which stretched from October 2021 until April this year, never made headlines because the ostensible assassin was an informant of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). 

Court documents however show the FBI let the plotting carry on to collect information on Shahram Poursafi, a member of the IRGC's Quds force, and on Iran's broader plans, including another alleged plot to kill an even more prominent former US official, reported to be former secretary of state Mike Pompeo.

Poursafi, who is believed to still be in Iran, was charged by the Justice Department with two counts relating to plotting a murder.