FDD Unmasks Iranian Man Behind Crowdfunding Bounty for Trump’s Assassination

There’s a crowdfunding effort to encourage the assassination of President Donald Trump, and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) has unmasked an Iranian national who helped create it. Thaar[.]ir, which takes its name from the Arabic word for revenge, is a website that claims it is trying to raise a bounty for Trump’s killing, and the man apparently behind it, Hossein Abbasifar (حسین عباسی‌فر), appears to have once worked for Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), the regime’s main propaganda network.

While thaar[.]ir does not overtly signal Abbasifar’s involvement, an investigation of the backend of the website and a review of open-source intelligence uncovered his identity. Identifying Abbasifar’s involvement allows him to be targeted by sanctions from the U.S. government and others.

Thaar[.]ir’s Threats Against Trump

Thaar[.]ir first appeared in DNS records — the internet’s “phone book” — on July 2, shortly after one of Iran’s leading Shiite clerics issued a fatwa (a Muslim religious edict) calling for Trump’s assassination on June 29.

The site prominently displayed an image of Trump with a sniper’s sight hovering over his temple between July 5 and July 9. It also promotes an alleged multimillion-dollar bounty as “reward for the head of the cursed Trump.”

As of July 9, the website shows a counter with more than $40 million in pledged rewards. FDD cannot verify whether the campaign has actually sourced this impressive sum or merely seeks to motivate people with an inflated number. The page also cites fatwas , likely to lend religious authority to its efforts.

Hossein Abbasifar’s Connection to Thaar[.]ir

Thaar[.]ir uses WordPress, a free platform for building and managing websites. FDD identified a WordPress author page on thaar[.]ir associated with the username “h_abbasifar.”

FDD then found an account on Eitaa, the popular Iranian messaging app, with the username “h_abasifar” for a man named Hossein Abbasifar. While its spelling is slightly different, the Eitaa account uses the same logo that appears on thaar[.]ir. After this, FDD identified Abbasifar’s account on Clubhouse, an audio-based social networking site, which lists an email address, econcul@gmail[.]com.

FDD confirmed that this email address is linked to the WordPress user “h_abbasifar” on thaar[.]ir. WordPress occasionally exposes metadata about its authors, including links to an author’s profile on Gravatar, a service that allows a user to create a profile image associated with their email address that appears across platforms such as OpenAI, Slack, and WordPress.

Gravatar creates a unique code, called a SHA-256 hash, from a user’s email address. This allows platforms to retrieve the user’s profile image without exposing the email itself. A specific hash, 9f1fcc3cd7af925c34e316e948bae92d9839c687f465616dd9b11fa6b40c31e8, appeared on the backend author metadata for “h_abbasifar” on thaar[.]ir. FDD produced an identical hash by applying the SHA-256 hashing algorithm to the email econcul@gmail[.]com, reinforcing Abbasifar’s connection to the website.

Hossein Abbasifar’s Links to Iranian State Broadcaster

Hossein Abbasifar appears to have once been employed by the IRIB. On his Clubhouse, Abbasifar lists himself as the director of Seda School, which taught students how to produce and publish podcasts. The webpage for the school is no longer online, and so it is unclear if it still exists. A teacher profile associated with the Seda School from 2021 claims Abbasifar served as a specialist at the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran (صدای جمهوری اسلامی ایران), an apparent reference to the IRIB’s radio division. Abbasifar’s profile also claims he produced Radio Javan, an IRIB program.

Attribution Should Lead to Targeted Sanctions

Attributing the creation of thaar[.]ir to specific people allows the United States to levy targeted sanctions against those responsible.

The non-profit United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) has proposed sanctions on a range of Iranian clerics calling for the murder of Trump and others. The list includes Abdolmajid Kharghani, contending that an interview he gave on Iranian state TV inspired thaar[.]ir. While Khargani’s interview may have helped inspire thaar[.]ir, Abbasifar helped create the website. The U.S. government has an opportunity to set an example by holding him accountable.

Max Lesser is a senior analyst on emerging threats at the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI) at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Maria Riofrio is an intern. For more analysis from CCTI and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow FDD on X @FDD and @FDD_CCTI. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.