U.S. agents have disrupted an Iranian “murder-for-hire” scheme targeting Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday.
Saudi ambassador to the US Adel al-Jubeir speaks to the press during the Middle East peace conference at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, 27 November 2007. Israel and the Palestinians opened the conference with a pledge to immediately resume talks frozen for seven years and seek a deal by the end of 2008. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)
Holder said the alleged plan was directed by elements of the Iranian government. A naturalized U.S. citizen holding Iranian and U.S. passports and a member of Iran’s revolutionary guard were involved, the FBI said in a statement.
“The U.S. is committed to holding Iran accountable,” Holder said.
A spokesman for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that the alleged plot “is a fabrication.”
Ali Akbar Javanfekr said the Iranian government is awaiting details, but suggested U.S. authorities are attempting to distract American citizens from “domestic problems” by convincing them there is an outside threat.
A U.S. official said Tuesday that the United States is likely to respond with additional sanctions against Iran. The United States will also be taking up the issue with the U.N. Security Council and other members of the international community, the official said.
FBI Director Robert Mueller said the alleged terror plot “reads like the pages of a Hollywood script,” but the implications are real.
“This case illustrates that we live in a world where borders and boundaries are increasingly irrelevant,” Mueller said.
An FBI agent’s affidavit obtained by CNN Tuesday accused two men of conspiring to murder Saudi Ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir.
The complaint alleges that Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, and Gholam Shakuri, an Iran-based member of Iran’s revolutionary guard, began a plot this spring to kill Al-Jubeir.
Source: CNN
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