Iran behind alleged terrorist plot, U.S. says

[seemslikeadream]

IRANIAN GOVERNMENT WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE

Attorney General Eric Holder, when asked how Iran would be held "accountable" in an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States, said he expected action from the White House, the State Department and Treasury within the next few hours.

Iran behind alleged terrorist plot, U.S. says

By Jason Ukman, Tuesday, October 11, 2:29 PM

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.

“The criminal complaint unsealed today exposes a deadly plot directed by factions of the Iranian government to assassinate a foreign Ambassador on U.S. soil with explosives,” Holder said in a statement. “Through the diligent and coordinated efforts of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies, we were able to disrupt this plot before anyone was harmed.”

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, a paramilitary division of that country’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Officials described the details of the plot as chilling, and alleged that Arbabsiar sought to meet with representatives of a Mexican drug cartel to arrange the killing of the Saudi ambassador, Adel al-Jubeir.

“It reads like pages from a Hollywood script,” said FBI Director Robert Mueller, but “the impact would have been very real.”

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.

Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia are historic rivals.

Iran 'Directed' Washington, D.C., Terror Plot, U.S. Says

By RICHARD ESPOSITO and BRIAN ROSS (@brianross)
Oct. 11, 2011

FBI and DEA agents have disrupted a plot to commit a "significant terrorist act in the United States" tied to Iran, federal officials told ABC News today.

The officials said the plot included the assassination of the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, Adel Al-Jubeir, with a bomb and subsequent bomb attacks on the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington, D.C. Bombings of the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Buenos Aires, Argentina, were also discussed, according to the U.S. officials.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in an announcement today that the plan was "conceived, sponsored and was directed from Iran" by a faction of the government and called it a "flagrant" violation of U.S. and international law.

"The U.S. is committed to holding Iran accountable for its actions," Holder said. He said the White House will be meeting with federal agencies before announcing "further action" in regards to Iran.

FBI Director Robert Mueller said the arrest of a suspect in the plot shows the U.S. will "bring the full weight of [the] law to bear on those responsible" and that "any attempts on American soil will not be tolerated."

The stunning allegations come against a backdrop of longstanding tensions between Iran and the United States and Saudi Arabia. In the last year, Saudi Arabia has attempted to build an anti-Iran alliance to push back against perceived aggression by Iran in the region.

An official at the Iranian embassy in Washington, D.C., told ABC News the U.S. government's story was "fake" but declined to provide any other information.

The State Department has listed Iran as a "state sponsor" of terror since 1984. Officials in Argentina have said Iran was behind an attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992.

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Alleged Terror Plotter Claims He Was 'Directed By High-Ranking' Iranian Officials

The new case, called Operation Red Coalition, began in May when an Iranian-American from Corpus Christi, Texas, approached a DEA informant seeking the help of a Mexican drug cartel to assassinate the Saudi ambassador, according to counter-terrorism officials.

The Iranian-American thought he was dealing with a member of the feared Zetas Mexican drug organization, according to agents.

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The DEA office in Houston brought in FBI agents as the international terror implications of the case became apparent.

The Iranian-American, identified by federal officials as Manssor Arbabsiar, 56, reportedly claimed he was being "directed by high-ranking members of the Iranian government," including a cousin who was "a member of the Iranian army but did not wear a uniform," according to a person briefed on the details of the case. Counter-terrorism officials said they believe the cousin may be part of the special operations unit of the Revolutionary Guard, the Quds force.

Arbabsiar and a second man, Gohlam Shakuri, an Iranian official, were named in a five-count criminal complaint filed Tuesday afternoon in federal court in New York. They were charged with conspiracy to kill a foreign official and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, a bomb, among other counts. Shakuri is still at large in Iran, Holder said.

The complaint also refers to another Iranian official but does not name him.

U.S. officials said Arbabsiar met twice in July with the DEA informant in the northern Mexico city of Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas, and negotiated a $1.5 million payment for the assassination of the Saudi ambassador. As a down payment, officials said Arbabsiar wired two payments of $49,960 on Aug. 1 and Aug. 9 to an FBI undercover bank account after he had returned to Iran.

Federal agents said the DEA and the FBI recorded a number of meetings and phone calls between the informant and Arbabsiar, some of them from Iran.

Follow BrianRoss on Twitter

Officials said Arbabsiar flew from Iran through Frankfurt, Germany, to Mexico City Sept. 29 for a final planning session, but was refused entry to Mexico and put on a plane to New York, where he was arrested.

Arbabsiar, a naturalized U.S. citizen, expressed "utter disregard for collateral damage" in the planned bomb attacks in Washington, according to officials.

He also reportedly told the undercover DEA informant that his contacts in the Iranian government could provide "tons of opium" for the Mexican cartels, according to officials who have reviewed the case file.

Officials said Arbabsiar is now cooperating with prosecutors and federal agents in New York, where the case has been transferred.

"Though it reads like the pages of a Hollywood script, the impact would've been very real and many lives would've been lost," Mueller said of the foiled plot.

A spokesperson at the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C., said she was unaware of the alleged plot.

[Nordic]

How many Americans will actually believe this?

Really, I'd like to see a poll.

[undead]

The new case, called Operation Red Coalition, began in May when an Iranian-American from Corpus Christi, Texas, approached a DEA informant seeking the help of a Mexican drug cartel to assassinate the Saudi ambassador, according to counter-terrorism officials.

The Iranian-American thought he was dealing with a member of the feared Zetas Mexican drug organization, according to agents.

The federal agents of the United States of America sure are good at pretending to be drug traffickers and terrorists!

[Nordic]

Saudi Arabia -- always our willing collaborator in false flag terrorism.

[Luther Blissett]

I believe this about as much as I believed the Beyonce pregnancy.

[seemslikeadream]

now why wouldn't anyone take this seriously ?

How the FBI's Network of Informants Actually Created Most of the Terrorist Plots "Foiled" in the US Since 9/11 and including

[seemslikeadream]

Who is Saudi Ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir?

By Laura Rozen

The Justice Department unsealed a five-count criminal complaint Tuesday alleging Iran-backed agents plotted to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States and possibly bomb the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington, D.C..

Riyadh's envoy to Washington, Adel Al-Jubeir, is the hand-picked, trusted envoy of the oil-rich monarchy's King Abdullah.

A non-royal, Al-Jubeir, 49, previously served as the Saudi embassy's congressional liaison and head of the information office (his brother currently serves that role). Educated in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Germany and Lebanon, Al-Jubeir earned his masters degree from Georgetown University. He joined Saudi Arabia's diplomatic service in 1987.

The Envoy reported last month that Amb. Al-Jubeir personally brought a secret letter from King Abdullah from Saudi Arabia to President Obama at the White House in September. He then left almost immediately for Saudi Arabia again. The White House and Saudi embassy did not disclose what the subject of the correspondence involved.

Experts sources in the Middle East say Al-Jubeir has appeared to be traveling for much of this fall--either that, or they feared, amid the delicate calibrations of diplomacy and influence in the region, that he was simply avoiding them.

Sectarian tensions between Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia and Shiite-dominated Iran have been growing in recent months, exacerbated by the recent Arab Spring uprisings, Saudi fears about Iran's nuclear program, and broader Saudi-vs.-Iranian rivalries in the region. All of these tensions have become heightened as well, as Saudi leaders in Riyadh have struggled with their own anxieties over popular discontent, or the prospect of regime change, within their country's own borders.

[Simulist]

:rofl:


How many Americans will actually believe this?

Really, I'd like to see a poll.

Most Americans will probably believe it, just as most Americans continue to believe pretty much everything "authority figures" tell them to believe in.

[N8wide]

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OCTOBER 11, 2011, 10:39 PM ET
Iran’s Letter to U.N. on U.S. Allegations
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U.S. authorities said they foiled an Iranian-directed plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Washington, a rare instance where Tehran is accused of fomenting terrorism on U.S. soil. Mohammad Khazaee, Iran’s U.N. ambassador, wrote the following letter to the U.N. secretary general “to express our outrage” over the allegations, calling them “politically motivated”:

H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon Secretary General United Nations, New York

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful No. 1110 11 October 2011

Excellency,

I am writing to you to express our outrage regarding the allegations leveled by the United States officials against the Islamic Republic of Iran on the involvement of my country in an assassination plot targeting a foreign diplomat in Washington.

The Islamic Republic of Iran strongly and categorically rejects these fabricated and baseless allegations, based on the suspicious claims by an individual. Any country could accuse other countries through fabrication of such stories. However, this would set dangerous precedents in the relations among States.

Iran has always condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Iran has been a victim of terrorism, a clear recent example of which is the assassination of a number of Iranian nuclear scientists in the past two years carried out by the Zionist regime and supported by the United States.

The Iranian nation seeks a world free from terrorism and considers the current US warmongering and propaganda machine against Iran as a threat not just against itself but to the peace and stability in the Persian Gulf region. The Islamic Republic of Iran warns against the implications of this horrible scenario and submits that the continuation of such divide-and-rule policies could have detrimental effects on peace and security.

The US allegation is, obviously, a politically-motivated move and a showcase of its long-standing animosity towards the Iranian nation. The Islamic Republic of Iran categorically and in the strongest terms condemns this shameful allegation by the United States authorities and deplores it as a well-thought evil plot in line with their anti-Iranian policy to divert attention from the current economic and social problems at home and the popular revolutions and protests against United States long supported dictatorial regimes abroad.

The Islamic Republic of Iran underlines its determination to maintain its friendly relations with all regional countries, particularly with its Muslim neighbors, and invites all to be vigilant against the vicious campaigns targeting stability and peace and friendly relations among States in our region.

As the Secretary-General of the United Nations you have an important responsibility in enlightening the international public opinion about the dangerous consequences of warmongering policies of the United States Government on international peace and security.

I am sending identical letters to the President of the Security Council and the President of the General Assembly. It would be appreciated if this letter could be circulated as a document of the General Assembly under the agenda item 83 and of the Security Council.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurance of my highest consideration.

Mohammad Khazaee Ambassador Permanent Representative

http://blogs.wsj.com/dispatch/2011/10/11/irans-letter-to-u-n-on-u-s-allegations/

[Nordic]

What's so transparent is how the propaganda networks were calling this "TERRORISM" all day long.

Since when is an assassination plot considered "terrorism". It's not. Terrorism is fomented against regular folks. This was a specific murder plot (even if it existed, which is highly unlikely).

"Terror terror terror". Any crime now is "terror".

I'm so sick of this shit.

[gnosticheresy_2]

Alleged Iran plot could have been trigger for war in Middle East

Whoever was behind the Washington plot was ready to start a war in the Middle East. The region is already on the brink of conflict over Iran's nuclear programme, with Israel increasingly twitchy over the progress Tehran is making towards a capacity to make nuclear weapons.

Leaked US State Department cables also make clear that the Saudi king, Abdullah, has repeatedly urged the US to "cut off the head of the snake" and attack Iran.

Against that backdrop, the assassination of the Saudi ambassador in Washington, with mass American casualties and perhaps an attack on the Israeli embassy too, would have ensured that the region went up in flames.

The US accuses the Quds Force (QF), the external operations wing of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, of being behind the plot. Given the hierarchy of the Iranian regime, such a huge undertaking would have required a direct order from the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who personally controls the QF.

Khamenei's involvement would be surprising, to say the least. Throughout his tenure – since the death of the Islamic republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei in 1989 – he has shown himself to be highly cautious and devoted to entrenching the power of the clerical regime.

Meir Javendafar, an Iranian-Israeli, said: "Khamenei's first priority is regime stability, and then a distant second, safeguarding the nuclear programme."

One speculative explanation circulating on Tuesday night was that Khamenei feels so threatened by internal opposition that he would provoke a foreign attack to allow himself to strengthen his grip on the country. But the opposition Green movement is currently in abeyance, and the nuclear programme is advancing steadily with little threat of concerted international action, or much global support for an Israeli strike.

The plot is also out of character for the QF. The unit is well-funded and has considerable freedom of action abroad. It is suspected of involvement in the bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in 1994, the funding and arming of Hezbollah in Lebanon, of Shia militias in Iraq, and even the Taliban in Afghanistan. In 2008, the head of the QF, Kassim Suleimani sent the US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus a message in which he said, according to Petraeus, that he controlled Iranian foreign policy in the region.

However, to extend those operations to US territory would represent a significant leap in scope and ambitions. The way the plot was conducted would also suggest that the ruthlessly efficiently QF had lost its touch, being clumsy enough to transfer money from accounts under its control directly to US bank accounts.

Robert Baer, a former CIA agent with long experience of observing the QF, said: "This stinks to holy hell. The Quds Force are very good. They don't sit down with people they don't know and make a plot. They use proxies and they are professional about it. If Kassim Suleimani was coming after you or me, we would be dead. This is totally uncharacteristic of them."

Another possibility is that this is a rogue operation, perhaps organised by a faction inside the QF, without the Supreme Leader's blessing. There is an argument that it suited the purposes of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who recently lost a bloodless power struggle with Khamenei.

If the attack succeeded, it would set in train events dramatic enough to turn the rigid, dusty hierarchy of the clerical republic on its head, giving Ahmadinejad the chance to seize the advantage.

Or the plotters could be fanatics inside the military establishment, bent on bringing the Revolutionary Guard to the top of the regime pyramid, beginning an open race to develop a nuclear weapon and confronting Israel directly.

"If this is a bunch of crazies, then anything is possible," Baer said.

All such possibilities are speculative. They would fundamentally reshape the Islamic Republic, and yet – for Iran experts – they are scarcely any more far-fetched that the idea that the Iranian establishment was behind a plot as brazen and reckless as this.

The thwarting of the plot almost certainly averted a conflict, but regional tension will escalate nevertheless. Any remote hope of resumed nuclear talks is dead for now. More sanctions and UN Security Council resolutions will be on the table instead.

Conceivably, that could break Khamenei's will to press on with the nuclear programme, and produce a compromise deal that defuses the threat of conflict.

Or it could just as plausibly convince him to accelerate the programme, persuaded that the regime's enemies are closing in. In that case, this extraordinary plot could yet succeed in sparking a new conflict in a very fragile region.

[Nordic]

It's rather terrifying to think that there are these rogue elements within our government that are itching to go to war with Iran SO MUCH and that one of these days they may finally succeed in getting their wish and we won't be able to do a damn thing about it.

[Hammer of Los]

"If this is a bunch of crazies, then anything is possible," Baer said.

Yeah, we know. Funny he should use that word. We all remember "the crazies."

Here we go again. In the days immediately after 911 I told my father in law that the attacks were a pretext to launch three planned wars in succession; Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. I said just wait and see.

I'm still waiting for the Iran War.

Do you think this is it?

BBC R4 were talking up the possibility of this conspiracy theory actually being a trigger for war with Iran, so they got me a bit worried. Some helpful person broadcast by the BBC this morning told me that in response to this conspiracy the US might increase its presence in those Gulf Waterways currently hotly contested by Iran and the Western powers. There have been several incidents already. An increased presence, I was told, might just result in a flashpoint which would result in a war with Iran.

Could be Gulf of Tonkin all over again. We shall see.

[Nordic]

They need more than this to start a hot war with Iran. This is just another warm up.

[N8wide]

They need more than this to start a hot war with Iran. This is just another warm up.

I agree, maybe this is all a precursor for an Israeli preemptive strike, with an American solidarity. I am also sick of this shit. Just what we need, another endless war. No thanks.