Bolton says Iranian death threat persists despite Trump pulling security

US President Donald Trump listens as his national security adviser John Bolton speaks during a presidential memorandum signing for the "Women's Global Development and Prosperity" initiative in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, February 7, 2019.
US President Donald Trump listens as his national security adviser John Bolton speaks during a presidential memorandum signing for the "Women's Global Development and Prosperity" initiative in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, February 7, 2019.

Former national security adviser John Bolton condemned President Donald Trump's move to end his security detail as a political decision despite what he called an ongoing threat to his life from Iran.

Trump ended the Secret Service protection for Bolton, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and former special envoy for Iran Brian Hook this week in place since intelligence and law enforcement officials assessed Iran sought to kill them.

"This is a very real ongoing threat," Bolton told CNN in an interview on Friday.

"I was told as recently as the weekend before the inaugural that the threat level remained the same ... neither I nor any of the other people who are receiving the protection have anything to do with establishing threat level - that comes from a consensus from the intelligence community."

Speaking later on Friday, Trump said Bolton and others deprived of their taxpayer-funded security detail could afford their own.

"They all made a lot of money they can hire their own security," Trump told reporters.

Bolton became a political antagonist of Trump's following his dismissal during the president's first term and has been a vocal critic of his former boss ever since.

"It's the sort of decision that represents the triumph of politics over national security," Bolton added.

The protection detail stemmed from perceived Iranian attempts to retaliate for Bolton and the other officials' role in Trump’s administration, where he was a key figure in the decision to assassinate Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) external arm the Qods Force in January 2020.

According to the US Justice Department, Iranian operative Shahram Poursafi attempted to pay criminals $300,000 to have Bolton killed on US soil.

Senior Iranian officials including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei have repeatedly publicly suggested those deemed responsible for Soleimani's killing would face what they described variously as revenge or retribution.