Post by LWPD on Oct 11, 2011 18:01:03 GMT -5
Iran has an established history of carrying out attacks through third country operations, but would they really fund an assassination attempt on American soil? A very serious allegation, one that would not have been made public without a well planned consequence.
Iran/Saudi Arabia Rivalry:
Courtesy of NY Times
U.S. Accuses Iranians of Plotting to Kill Saudi Envoy
By J. David Goodman
Federal authorities foiled a plot by men linked to the Iranian government to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States and to bomb the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a news conference on Tuesday.
Mr. Holder said the plot began with a meeting in Mexico in May, “the first of a series that would result in an international conspiracy by elements of the Iranian government” to pay $1.5 million to murder the ambassador on United States soil.
The men accused of plotting the attacks were Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri, according to court documents filed in federal court in Manhattan. The Justice Department said the men were originally from Iran. He said the men were connected to the secretive Quds Force, a division of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps that has carried out operations in other countries. He said that money in support of the plot was transferred through a bank in New York, but that the men had not yet obtained any explosives.
The Justice Department said in a statement that Mr. Shakuri, a member of the Quds force, remained at large. Mr. Arbabsiar, a naturalized American citizen, was arrested on Sept. 29. There is “no basis to believe that any other co-conspirators are present in the U.S.,” Mr. Holder said. “In addition to holding these individual conspirators accountable for their alleged role in this plot, the United States is committed to holding Iran accountable for its actions,” Mr. Holder said.
A senior administration official said on Tuesday that the Treasury Department planned to announce new sanctions against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is already the target of heavy sanctions for its role in overseeing Iran’s nuclear program. The new sanctions will single out five senior leaders of the Guards Corps and the Quds force, the official said.
Iran reacted immediately to the accusations by the Justice Department, dismissing them as fabrications. The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency said the charges were part of “a new propaganda campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Details offered by the Justice Department painted a picture of a dizzying international plot involving Mexican drug cartels, murder-for-hire and large sums of money being transferred from unknown locations.
The department said in the criminal complaint filed on Tuesday that beginning in the spring of this year, Mr. Arbabsiar conspired with Mr. Shakuri to plot the assassination of the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir. According to the complaint, other conspirators based in Iran were aware of and approved the plan, which involved hiring men connected to a Mexican drug cartel to carry out the killing.
The complaint says that the men hired by the two accused plotters were in fact confidential sources of the Drug Enforcement Agency. The men were later asked by the accused plotters whether they were knowledgeable in bomb-making, the complaint said, adding that Mr. Arbabsiar “was interested in, among other things, attacking an embassy of Saudi Arabia.”
The government’s confidential sources were monitored and guided by federal law enforcement agents, Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District, said in the news conference. “So no explosives were actually ever placed anywhere,” he said, “and no one was actually in ever in any danger.”
According the complaint, Mr. Arbabsiar attempted to reassure the two federal informants that they would be paid if they carried out the assassination: “This is politics,” he told them, saying that the money was not coming from an individual but from a government. “It’s not like, eh, personal . . . this is politics.”
Elsewhere in the complaint, Mr. Arbabsiar is said to have told the men that the assassination was the most important element of the plot, and should be carried out even if it would cause a large number of casualties: “They want that guy done, if the hundred go with him.”
After arresting Mr. Arbabsiar, law enforcement officials had him make telephone calls to Mr. Shakuri in Iran that were monitored. During those calls, the complaint says, Mr. Shakuri urged Mr. Arbabsiar to carry out the plan as a quickly as possible.
The complaint accuses the two men of conspiracy to murder a foreign official; conspiracy to engage in foreign travel and use interstate and foreign commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire; conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, specifically explosives; and conspiracy to commit an act of international terrorism.
ABC News, citing an unnamed official, reported that the plot also included plans to bomb the Israeli Embassy in Washington, as well as those belonging to Saudi Arabia and Israel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Mr. Holder said the Mexican government had been instrumental in the investigation. A spokesman for the National Security Council said that the plot had first been brought to President Obama’s attention earlier this year.
The complaint did not specify which Saudi embassy was the target of the plot. Some news-agency reports suggested that it was the Saudi embassy in Washington, while ABC News, citing unnamed officials, reported that it was the Saudi embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and that Israeli embassies in Washington and Buenos Aires also were targets. Mr. Holder said the Mexican government was instrumental in the investigation.
A spokesman for the National Security Council said that the plot had first been brought to President Obama’s attention earlier this year. “The President was first briefed on this issue in June and directed his Administration to provide all necessary support to this investigation,” he said in a statement. “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 in this instance and countless others.”
At the White House, President Obama’s senior national security aides met for two and one-half hours Tuesday morning to discuss how the United States should respond to the planned attacks. Mr. Obama thanked the F.B.I. and other law enforcement authorities for their work in disrupting the plot.“We’re going to work with allies and partners to send Iran a message: we don’t tolerate the targeting of foreign diplomats on our soil,” said a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A major variable in the response, officials said, is how Saudi Arabia might react. The White House national security advisor, Thomas E. Donilon, informed King Abdullah of the plot two weeks ago, in a three-hour meeting held in Saudi Arabia.
On Tuesday, Abdullah Alshamri, a Saudi official in Riyadh, predicted that the disclosure would send Iranian-Saudi relations to “their lowest point yet.”
Though the Saudi government had yet to take any steps, Mr. Alshamri suggested that a diplomatic row was inevitable.
“We’re expecting from our government a serious and tough reaction, to give a message to the Iranians that enough is enough,” he said in a telephone interview. “If we keep our diplomatic ties with the Iranians, they will think we are weak, and they will keep trying to attack us.” Mr. Alshamri said the plot that the Justice Department said it had broken up was only the latest Iranian attempt to attack Saudi diplomats.
“This is their hobby,” he said. “Iran has no respect for international law.”
Iran/Saudi Arabia Rivalry:
Courtesy of NY Times
U.S. Accuses Iranians of Plotting to Kill Saudi Envoy
By J. David Goodman
Federal authorities foiled a plot by men linked to the Iranian government to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States and to bomb the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a news conference on Tuesday.
Mr. Holder said the plot began with a meeting in Mexico in May, “the first of a series that would result in an international conspiracy by elements of the Iranian government” to pay $1.5 million to murder the ambassador on United States soil.
The men accused of plotting the attacks were Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri, according to court documents filed in federal court in Manhattan. The Justice Department said the men were originally from Iran. He said the men were connected to the secretive Quds Force, a division of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps that has carried out operations in other countries. He said that money in support of the plot was transferred through a bank in New York, but that the men had not yet obtained any explosives.
The Justice Department said in a statement that Mr. Shakuri, a member of the Quds force, remained at large. Mr. Arbabsiar, a naturalized American citizen, was arrested on Sept. 29. There is “no basis to believe that any other co-conspirators are present in the U.S.,” Mr. Holder said. “In addition to holding these individual conspirators accountable for their alleged role in this plot, the United States is committed to holding Iran accountable for its actions,” Mr. Holder said.
A senior administration official said on Tuesday that the Treasury Department planned to announce new sanctions against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is already the target of heavy sanctions for its role in overseeing Iran’s nuclear program. The new sanctions will single out five senior leaders of the Guards Corps and the Quds force, the official said.
Iran reacted immediately to the accusations by the Justice Department, dismissing them as fabrications. The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency said the charges were part of “a new propaganda campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Details offered by the Justice Department painted a picture of a dizzying international plot involving Mexican drug cartels, murder-for-hire and large sums of money being transferred from unknown locations.
The department said in the criminal complaint filed on Tuesday that beginning in the spring of this year, Mr. Arbabsiar conspired with Mr. Shakuri to plot the assassination of the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir. According to the complaint, other conspirators based in Iran were aware of and approved the plan, which involved hiring men connected to a Mexican drug cartel to carry out the killing.
The complaint says that the men hired by the two accused plotters were in fact confidential sources of the Drug Enforcement Agency. The men were later asked by the accused plotters whether they were knowledgeable in bomb-making, the complaint said, adding that Mr. Arbabsiar “was interested in, among other things, attacking an embassy of Saudi Arabia.”
The government’s confidential sources were monitored and guided by federal law enforcement agents, Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District, said in the news conference. “So no explosives were actually ever placed anywhere,” he said, “and no one was actually in ever in any danger.”
According the complaint, Mr. Arbabsiar attempted to reassure the two federal informants that they would be paid if they carried out the assassination: “This is politics,” he told them, saying that the money was not coming from an individual but from a government. “It’s not like, eh, personal . . . this is politics.”
Elsewhere in the complaint, Mr. Arbabsiar is said to have told the men that the assassination was the most important element of the plot, and should be carried out even if it would cause a large number of casualties: “They want that guy done, if the hundred go with him.”
After arresting Mr. Arbabsiar, law enforcement officials had him make telephone calls to Mr. Shakuri in Iran that were monitored. During those calls, the complaint says, Mr. Shakuri urged Mr. Arbabsiar to carry out the plan as a quickly as possible.
The complaint accuses the two men of conspiracy to murder a foreign official; conspiracy to engage in foreign travel and use interstate and foreign commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire; conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, specifically explosives; and conspiracy to commit an act of international terrorism.
ABC News, citing an unnamed official, reported that the plot also included plans to bomb the Israeli Embassy in Washington, as well as those belonging to Saudi Arabia and Israel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Mr. Holder said the Mexican government had been instrumental in the investigation. A spokesman for the National Security Council said that the plot had first been brought to President Obama’s attention earlier this year.
The complaint did not specify which Saudi embassy was the target of the plot. Some news-agency reports suggested that it was the Saudi embassy in Washington, while ABC News, citing unnamed officials, reported that it was the Saudi embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and that Israeli embassies in Washington and Buenos Aires also were targets. Mr. Holder said the Mexican government was instrumental in the investigation.
A spokesman for the National Security Council said that the plot had first been brought to President Obama’s attention earlier this year. “The President was first briefed on this issue in June and directed his Administration to provide all necessary support to this investigation,” he said in a statement. “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 in this instance and countless others.”
At the White House, President Obama’s senior national security aides met for two and one-half hours Tuesday morning to discuss how the United States should respond to the planned attacks. Mr. Obama thanked the F.B.I. and other law enforcement authorities for their work in disrupting the plot.“We’re going to work with allies and partners to send Iran a message: we don’t tolerate the targeting of foreign diplomats on our soil,” said a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A major variable in the response, officials said, is how Saudi Arabia might react. The White House national security advisor, Thomas E. Donilon, informed King Abdullah of the plot two weeks ago, in a three-hour meeting held in Saudi Arabia.
On Tuesday, Abdullah Alshamri, a Saudi official in Riyadh, predicted that the disclosure would send Iranian-Saudi relations to “their lowest point yet.”
Though the Saudi government had yet to take any steps, Mr. Alshamri suggested that a diplomatic row was inevitable.
“We’re expecting from our government a serious and tough reaction, to give a message to the Iranians that enough is enough,” he said in a telephone interview. “If we keep our diplomatic ties with the Iranians, they will think we are weak, and they will keep trying to attack us.” Mr. Alshamri said the plot that the Justice Department said it had broken up was only the latest Iranian attempt to attack Saudi diplomats.
“This is their hobby,” he said. “Iran has no respect for international law.”
