TerrorismU.S.: Iranian agents tried to kill Saudi ambassador to U.S.
The U.S. attorney general Eric Holde rannounced yesterday that the U.S. government has foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States; Iran wired $100,000 into a U.S. bank account in August as a down payment for the hit; the assassins — the Iranians thought they were members of a Mexican drug cartel — were to receive $1.5 million if the hit was successful
Saudi ambassador to the U.S. Adel al-Jubeir // Source: sustg.org
The U.S. attorney general Eric Holde rannounced yesterday that the U.S. government has foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States.
A criminal complaint was unsealed in federal court in New York Tuesday naming Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri as the two alleged plotters, both with ties to Iran. Arbabsiar has been jailed in New York since September and Shakuri remains at large.
The BBC reports that complaint says that Iran helped conceive, sponsor, and direct the plot. Holder called the alleged plot a “flagrant violation of U.S. and international law” and said the United States will hold Iran accountable.
Iran has been a supporter of terrorism for decades, and the latest allegations in the 21-page complaint are likely to isolate Iran further.
Saudi Arabia called the alleged plot a “despicable violation of international norms.”
Last spring, Arbabsiar met a number of times with a DEA operative in Mexico – the operative posed as a member of a sophisticated international drug-trafficking cartel — the complaint alleges. It was during these meetings that Arbabsiar allegedly offered the agent money to assassinate Adel al-Jubeir, the ambassador. Arbabsiar allegedly wired $100,000 into a U.S. bank account in August as a down payment for the hit. The assassins were to receive $1.5 million if the hit was successful.
For a detailed account of the plot, see this FBI release.
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said: “The disruption of this plot is a significant achievement by our intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and the president is enormously grateful for their exceptional work.”
FBI director Robert Mueller told reporters: “Though it reads like the pages of a Hollywood script, the impact would have been very real and many lives would have been lost.”
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton later told a news conference the US would consult with its international partners to send a “very strong message” over the alleged plot. She told the Associated Press that, “the idea that they would attempt to go to a Mexican drug cartel to solicit murder-for-hire to kill the Saudi ambassador, nobody could make that up, right?”
