A crowdfunding campaign that promised $40 million for the assassination of US President Donald Trump was linked to a former employee of Iran’s main state-run propaganda outlet.The campaign was reportedly organised by a group called “Blood Covenant,” which pledged to bring “justice” for actions committed by “militants.” According to the US-based think tank Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), the group allegedly operated under the “aegis of the Iranian regime,” as reported by the New York Post.“We pledge to award the prize to whoever can bring the militants and those who threaten the life of the Deputy of Imam Mahdi (may our souls be sacrificed for him) to justice for their actions,” the group had posted on its website.MEMRI described the campaign as “a call to jihad, inviting believers to donate their money and sacrifice their lives.” It added, “The fact that these calls to assassinate Trump were coming from above and echoed in the street and through all strata of society, including in the Iranian media… reflected a broad religious and regime consensus strengthened by reiterated emphasis on the reward anyone carrying out the punishment against Trump could expect to receive — in addition to the $40.3 million, also Paradise and the status of a defender of Islam.”An individual named Hossein Abbasifar, an Iranian citizen, was “unmasked” by Max Lesser and Maria Riofrio, analysts at the foundation for defence of democracies (FDD), who suggested he was involved with the Blood Covenant group.“The man apparently behind it, Hossein Abbasifar, appeared to have once worked for Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), the regime’s main propaganda network,” their analysis stated. The FDD connected Abbasifar to the campaign through metadata analysis of the Blood Covenant website.Lesser and Riofrio also claimed Abbasifar had worked as a specialist at a state-run radio network called “Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”“The US government has an opportunity to set an example by holding him accountable,” they wrote, noting that identifying the creators of the website could help “levy targeted sanctions against those responsible.”A senior US State Department official said on Friday that the administration was aware of the threats and remained committed to holding “bad actors accountable,” according to the Washington Free Beacon. “This means using every tool at our disposal, including sanctions, to implement the president’s maximum pressure strategy,” the official added.The development came after Iran’s top Shiite religious authority issued a “fatwa” or religious decree last month against Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The fatwa, declared by Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, called on Muslims to bring down both leaders for allegedly threatening the leadership of the Islamic Republic.The decree labelled any individual or institution that threatened the unity and leadership of the global Islamic community as “mohareb” or “warlord”, someone waging war against God or regarded as an “enemy of God.”
