Beyondheadlines Foreign Reporter.
A plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to United States was
unfolded, masterminded by Iran. This was discussed by President Obama
and King Abdullah of Saudia Arabia in White House yesterday. Both
leaders committed to pursuing a strong, unified international response
to hold the alleged plotters responsible.ion” of what the U.S. claims
is an Iranian pattern of franchising terror abroad.
“We will work closely with our international partners to increase
Iran’s isolation and the pressure on its government and we call upon
other nations to join us in condemning this threat to international
peace and security,” Clinton said at a Washington conference.Secretary
of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke Wednesday of a “dangerous
escalation” of what the U.S. claims is an Iranian pattern of
franchising terror abroad.
“We will work closely with our international partners to increase
Iran’s isolation and the pressure on its government and we call upon
other nations to join us in condemning this threat to international
peace and security,” Clinton said at a Washington conference. Her
words strongly suggested that the U.S. wants some new action against
Iran from the U.N. Security Council, which already has approved
several rounds of mild to moderate sanctions against Iran over its
disputed nuclear program.
Two men, including a member of Iran’s Quds (kuhdz) Force special
foreign actions unit, were charged in federal court in New York this
week with conspiring to kill the Saudi diplomat, Adel Al-Jubeir. The
men tried to hire a purported member of a Mexican drug cartel to carry
out the assassination with a bomb attack while Al-Jubeir dined at his
favorite restaurant.When a US government informant pretended to have
access through a Mexico drug cartel to military-grade weaponry and
explosives, Mr Arbabsiar arranged to pay him and others $1.5 million
(£950,000) to murder the Saudi ambassador, prosecutors said in the
complaint. Mr Arbabsiar, known locally as “Jack” or “Scarface”, in the
area for at least four months.The other man identified was Gholam
Shakier. A criminal complaint named Gholam Shakier, described as
Shahlai’s deputy in the Quds Force who helped provide funding. Shahlai
was identified by the Treasury Department in 2008, during George W.
Bush’s administration, as a Quds deputy commander who planned a Jan.
20, 2007, attack in Karbala, Iraq, that killed five American soldiers
and wounded three others.
Arbabsiar, Shakuri, Shahlai and two others _ Qasem Soleimani, a Quds
commander who allegedly oversaw the plot, and Hamed Abdollahi, a
senior Quds officer who helped coordinate _ were put under economic
sanctions Tuesday by the U.S. Treasury for their alleged involvement.
The department described all except Arbabsiar as Quds officers. The
alleged Iranian plot against the Saudi ambassador to Washington was
“amateur hour,” an unusually clumsy operation for Iran’s elite foreign
action unit, the Quds Force, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
