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U.S. officials on Tuesday said that they had foiled an elaborate terrorist plot backed by factions of the Iranian government aimed at assassinating the Saudi ambassador to Washington.
At a news conference, Attorney General Eric Holder said two Iranians have been charged with conspiracy to murder a foreign official and conspiracy to commit an act of international terrorism, among other charges. One of the suspects, an Iranian with U.S. citizenship, was arrested in New York last month; the other, an Iranian, remains at large.
Two people have been charged with conspiracy to kill the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. A federal criminal complaint filed in New York says the two conspired to use a weapon of mass destruction and have ties to Iran. (Oct. 11)
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“The United States is committed to holding Iran accountable for its actions,” Holder said. He added that the United States “will be taking further action” against Iran later in the day.
The suspects were identified as Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old from Austin, and Gholam Shakuri, an Iran-based member of Iran’s Quds Force, an elite division of that country’s Revolutionary Guard Corps responsible for foreign operations.
In addition to killing the Saudi ambassador, Adel al-Jubeir, officials said, the plot envisioned later striking other targets around the world. The officials said that the plan to kill the ambassador was directed by Tehran, and that Arbabsiar has acknowledged that he was recruited and funded by men he understood to be senior officers in the Quds Force.
Shortly after the announcement, the Iranian government denied the accusations, calling them a new round of “American propaganda,” according to state news agency IRNA.
Officials described the details of the plot involving the ambassador as chilling, and alleged that Arbabsiar met with a DEA informant — who was posing as a representative of a Mexican drug cartel -- to arrange his killing.
At one point, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday, Arbabsiar told the informant that he would need four men to carry out the ambassador’s murder and that he would pay $1.5 million for the operation.
Arbabsiar allegedly later arranged for $100,000 to be wired to an account that was actually overseen by the FBI.
“It reads like pages from a Hollywood script,” said FBI Director Robert Mueller, but “the impact would have been very real.”
A spokesman for the National Security Council said President Obama had been briefed on the case in June.
The United States has listed Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1984. The government in Tehran has long denied accusations that it backs terrorism.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are bitter political enemies in a long-running Middle Eastern conflict fueled largely by sectarian rivalries. Saudi Arabia, a monarchy with a predominantly Sunni Muslim population, has felt threatened by the Shiite leadership of Iran ever since the 1979 revolution toppled Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and replaced him with a theocratic government.
Jubeir, 49, a former top foreign affairs adviser to King Abdullah, was appointed as Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States in January 2007. Fluent in English and German as well as Arabic, he holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from the University of North Texas and a master’s degree in international relations from Georgetown University.
Staff writers Jerry Markon, William Branign, Craig Whitlock and Scott Wilson, correspondent Thomas Erdbrink in Tehran and staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/iranian-charged-in-terror-plot/2011/10/11/gIQAiaYxcL_story.html
This is really bad. Really. Really. Bad.
At a news conference, Attorney General Eric Holder said two Iranians have been charged with conspiracy to murder a foreign official and conspiracy to commit an act of international terrorism, among other charges. One of the suspects, an Iranian with U.S. citizenship, was arrested in New York last month; the other, an Iranian, remains at large.
Two people have been charged with conspiracy to kill the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. A federal criminal complaint filed in New York says the two conspired to use a weapon of mass destruction and have ties to Iran. (Oct. 11)
“The United States is committed to holding Iran accountable for its actions,” Holder said. He added that the United States “will be taking further action” against Iran later in the day.
The suspects were identified as Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old from Austin, and Gholam Shakuri, an Iran-based member of Iran’s Quds Force, an elite division of that country’s Revolutionary Guard Corps responsible for foreign operations.
In addition to killing the Saudi ambassador, Adel al-Jubeir, officials said, the plot envisioned later striking other targets around the world. The officials said that the plan to kill the ambassador was directed by Tehran, and that Arbabsiar has acknowledged that he was recruited and funded by men he understood to be senior officers in the Quds Force.
Shortly after the announcement, the Iranian government denied the accusations, calling them a new round of “American propaganda,” according to state news agency IRNA.
Officials described the details of the plot involving the ambassador as chilling, and alleged that Arbabsiar met with a DEA informant — who was posing as a representative of a Mexican drug cartel -- to arrange his killing.
At one point, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday, Arbabsiar told the informant that he would need four men to carry out the ambassador’s murder and that he would pay $1.5 million for the operation.
Arbabsiar allegedly later arranged for $100,000 to be wired to an account that was actually overseen by the FBI.
“It reads like pages from a Hollywood script,” said FBI Director Robert Mueller, but “the impact would have been very real.”
A spokesman for the National Security Council said President Obama had been briefed on the case in June.
The United States has listed Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1984. The government in Tehran has long denied accusations that it backs terrorism.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are bitter political enemies in a long-running Middle Eastern conflict fueled largely by sectarian rivalries. Saudi Arabia, a monarchy with a predominantly Sunni Muslim population, has felt threatened by the Shiite leadership of Iran ever since the 1979 revolution toppled Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and replaced him with a theocratic government.
Jubeir, 49, a former top foreign affairs adviser to King Abdullah, was appointed as Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States in January 2007. Fluent in English and German as well as Arabic, he holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from the University of North Texas and a master’s degree in international relations from Georgetown University.
Staff writers Jerry Markon, William Branign, Craig Whitlock and Scott Wilson, correspondent Thomas Erdbrink in Tehran and staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/iranian-charged-in-terror-plot/2011/10/11/gIQAiaYxcL_story.html
This is really bad. Really. Really. Bad.