Former National Security Adviser John Bolton said the United States is able to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin if he uses a nuclear weapon against Ukraine.
During an appearance on the United Kingdom’s LBC News, Bolton told host Andrew Marr that Putin “will be held accountable” if he uses a nuclear weapon, according to the Independent.
“I don’t agree that we can’t get him and I think he knows that,” Bolton said. “You can ask Qassem Soleimani in Iran what happens when we decide somebody is a threat to the US.”
Bolton’s comments come after Putin made multiple veiled threats of nuclear war, saying the U.S. already set the precedent to employ such weapons.
“The United States is the only country in the world to have used nuclear weapons twice, destroying the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” Putin continued. “By the way, they set a precedent.”
A Russian train was also recently seen transporting equipment from a Russian military unit which handles nuclear weapons, according to an unconfirmed video.
Bolton was once the target of an alleged assassination plot. In August, the U.S. Department of Justice charged a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with plotting to murder the former national security adviser.
Beginning in October 2021, Shahram Poursafi, who also goes by Mehdi Rezayi, 45, of Tehran, Iran, allegedly attempted to pay an individual in the U.S. $300,000 to murder Bolton in Washington D.C. or Maryland. According to an affidavit, Poursafi’s efforts to get someone to assassinate Bolton continued through April 2022.
