U.S. authorities said Tuesday 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.
Prosecutors alleged an elaborate international plot, with two men, including an Iranian-born U.S. citizen who had been living in Texas, using funding from the Iranian government to try to hire a Mexican drug cartel to kill the ambassador.
Attorney General Eric Holder said elements of Iran’s Qods Force, a unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, were ready to spend $1.5 million on the plan.
Saudi officials described the alleged plot as an escalation in the confrontation between the two Middle Eastern rivals, which have clashed anew in recent months over Saudi efforts to bolster the monarchy in Bahrain.
U.S. officials said Iran would be held accountable over the case and announced new sanctions against Iranian officials. The allegations could help the U.S. make the case to other countries for tougher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.
A spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York said, “We categorically reject these baseless allegations.” The Saudi Embassy in Washington issued a brief statement condemning the plot as “a despicable violation of international norms, standards and conventions.”
Prosecutors announced several criminal charges against Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen who was arrested Sept. 29. Charges were also brought against Gholam Shakuri, described as a member of the Qods Force. Mr. Shakuri remains at large; U.S. officials believe he is in Iran.
Prosecutors allege that Mr. Arbabsiar met with a paid Drug Enforcement Administration informant earlier this year. U.S. authorities described the informant as a paid source who was facing drug charges by authorities in a U.S. state and that the charges were dismissed following his cooperation on unrelated drug investigations.
Federal agents developed a sting operation over a period of months, helping set up details of a plot to bomb a fictitious Washington restaurant where they purported the Saudi ambassador, Adel al-Jubeir, was a regular, according to U.S. authorities. The plotters also discussed bombings of the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington, as well as the Israeli embassy in Argentina, according to U.S. officials.
Beginning in May and in the months since, Mr. Arbabsiar held multiple meetings in Mexico with people he believed to be cartel members. In August, the plotters wired a $100,000 down payment to an account in New York controlled by the U.S. government, the Justice Department said.
According to prosecutors, Mr. Arbabsiar told undercover U.S. informants that his cousin was a high-level member of the Iranian military, whose job was focused on matters outside Iran.
Much remains unclear about the alleged plot, including which high-level Iranian government officials, if any, in Tehran knew about it. U.S. authorities said they controlled the alleged plot and no explosives were ever obtained, nor was an attack imminent.
Mr. Arbabsiar, who was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Sept. 29, has confessed to his involvement in the plot, the Justice Department said.
Mr. Arbabsiar appeared before a magistrate in New York’s Southern District Tuesday and waived his right to have the criminal complaint against him read in court. Sabrina Shroff, his attorney, said Mr. Arbabsiar intends to plead not guilty if he is indicted. Mr. Arbabsiar faces a preliminary court hearing Oct. 25.
President Barack Obama was first briefed on the alleged plot in June and directed government agencies to support the investigation, U.S. officials said.
According to a criminal complaint by the Manhattan U.S. attorney, Mr. Arbabsiar told the U.S. informant that it would be better if the ambassador could be killed in a simple shooting, but that if the only way to do it was to blow up a restaurant full of people, it was “no big deal,” according to the complaint.
A Saudi official in Riyadh said his government viewed the alleged plot as a proxy shot against King Abdullah because the ambassador is a trusted adviser to the king.
Iranian officials said the U.S. was attempting to create “divisions in the region,” according to the Fars news agency, a semi-official organization affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards.
The accusations come against a backdrop of rising tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The two nations, one Shiite-dominated and the other Sunni-dominated, have long struggled for political dominance in the Mideast. During the wave of “Arab Spring” protests against Arab governments, thousands of Bahraini citizens, the majority of whom are Shiite, protested against their ruler, a Sunni king who is supported by Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia deployed hundreds of troops to support the Bahraini king and accused Iran of backing the protests and trying to destabilize the region.
A U.S. official said the plot represented “an escalation” of Iran’s ambitions. “To go after an ambassador in the United States is a different level,” the official added. The U.S. official said the plot stretches back to Tehran. While no direct line has been drawn to the highest ranks of the Iranian government, evidence suggests it reached to the Qods Force and parts of the Iranian government acting with official sanction, the official said.
The Treasury Department said Tuesday it put five people under sanctions, including four senior Qods Force officers whom the U.S. connected to the alleged assassination plot.
Mr. Arbabsiar agreed to cooperate with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. said. After his arrest, Mr. Arbabsiar made a phone call to Iran to the other man charged in the plot, Mr. Shakuri, in which prosecutors say Mr. Shakuri, using the code word for the operation, again gave the go-ahead to the attack on the ambassador. “Just do it quickly, it’s late,” Mr. Shakuri allegedly said.
In Round Rock, Texas, neighbors said Mr. Arbabsiar lived in a two-story beige suburban house with a woman and several young people. “You tried to say hello and you got the cold shoulder,” said Bree Tiumalu, who lives two doors away.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
آمریکا ایران را به دست داشتن در توطئه ترور سفیر عربستان در واشینگتن متهم کرد
وزارت دادگستری امریکا روز سه شنبه اعلام کرد که دو ایرانی به تلاش برای حمله به سفارت خانه های عربستان سعودی و اسرائیل در واشینگتن و همچنین ترور سفیر عربستان سعودی در آمریکا متهم شده اند.مقامات آمریکا روز سه شنبه دو ایرانی را به تلاش برای حمله به سفارت خانه های عربستان سعودی و اسرائیل در واشینگتن و همچنین ترور عادل الجبیر، سفیر عربستان سعودی در آمریکا متهم کردند
مقام های دادگستری آمریکا این دو ایرانی را «منصور ارباب سیار»، ۵۶ ساله، و «غلام شکوری» معرفی کرده اند. منصور ارباب سیار دارای تابعیت ایرانی – آمریکایی است و هم اکنون در بازداشت به سر می برد، ولی غلام شکوری فراری است
مقام های قضایی آمریکا می گویند که غلام شکوری، عضو نیروی قدس- شاخه خارجی سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی است
به گزارش خبرگزاری رویترز، پلیس فدرال آمریکا و نیروی مبارزه با مواد مخدر (دی ایی ای) توانسته است در یک عملیاتی به نام «ائتلاف سرخ » این طرح ترور و انفجار را متوقف کنند
مقامات آمریکایی می گویند، در حال بررسی نقش و ارتباط دولت ایران با این افراد هستند. این در حالی است که براساس دادخواست دادستانی فدرال در نیویورک، غلام شکوری به عنوان یک عضو سپاه قدس معرفی شده است
اریک هولدر، وزیر دادگستری آمریکا، در یک کنفرانس خبری گفته است : ایران در این زمینه مسئول است
اریک هولدر همچنین گفته است: «از روزی که این متهم بازداشت شده است، به دست داشتن در این طرح توطئه اعتراف کرده است و همچنین اطلاعات با ارزشی در خصوص نقش عناصری درحکومت ایران در این اقدامات ارائه کرده است
عکسی که گفته می شود متعلق به منصور ارباب سیار است
وزیر دادگستری آمریکا همچنین گفته است که مقامات کاخ سفید و وزارتخانه های امورخارجه و خزانه داری در حال مذاکره هستند و تا در خصوص اقداماتی تازه علیه ایران تصمیم بگیرند.بر اساس این دادخواست دادستانی فدرال نیویورک، منصور ارباب سیار در ماه اوت در معامله ای با یک مامور مخفی نیروی مبارزه با مواد مخدر آمریکا حاضر شده بود که مبلغ یک و نیم میلیون دلار برای ترور سفیر عربستان بپردازد. وی به عنوان پیش پرداخت، مبلغ یک صدهزار دلار را در دو نوبت به وی پرداخت کرده است
به گفته مقامات رسمی آمریکا، منصور ارباب سیار در ۲۹ سپتامبر از ایران به فرانکفورت سفر کرده است و ازآنجا قصد داشت برای نهایی کردن طرح ترور به مکزیکو سیتی برود که در آنجا از ورود وی به مکزیک ممانعت به عمل آمده و او را از طریق یک پرواز به نیویورک فرستادند و در آنجا دستگیر شده است
بر اساس این دادخواست، منصور ارباب سیار به مامور مخفی نیروی مبارزه با مواد مخدر گفته است که مقامات ایرانی حاضرند «هزاران کیلو تریاک» در اختیار کارتل های مواد مخدر مکزیک قرار دهند
به گفته مقامات رسمی، منصور ارباب سیار پس از بازداشت در حال همکاری با ماموران فدارل و دادستانی آمریکا است
در همین حال، وزارت خزانه داری آمریکا، روز سه شنبه اعلام کرد، پنج ایرانی از جمله منصور ارباب سیار و غلام شکوری را در اتباط با توطئه ترور سفیر عربستان در واشینگتن تحریم کرده اند
وزارت خزانه داری آمریکا همچنین قاسم سلیمانی، فرمانده سپاه قدس، به همراه عبدالرضا شهلایی و حامد عبداللهی را نیز مورد تحریم قرار داده است
به گزارش آسوشیتدپرس، علاوه بر قاسم سلیمانی، عبدالرضا شهلایی نیز پیشتر از سوی وزارت خزانه داری آمریکا مورد تحریم قرار گرفته است
مشورت برای انزوای بیشتر ایران
در همین زمینه، هیلاری کلینتون، وزیر امور خارجه آمریکا، روز سه شنبه گفته است که واشینگتن با همپیمانان خود در عرصه بین المللی برای «انزوای بیشتر ایران» مشورت خواهد کرد
هیلاری کلینتون در یک کنفرانس خبری گفت:«ما با دوستان و شرکای خود در جامعه بین المللی مشورت خواهیم کرد تا پیامی قوی به ایران بفرستیم که چنین اقداماتی، که نقض معیارهای بین المللی است، را می بایست متوقف کند
وزیر امور خارجه امریکا همچنین گفته است: در این مشورت ها، در زمینه چگونگی ارسال پیام جدی به ایران و همچنین انزوای بیشتر جمهوری اسلامی درعرصه های بین المللی بحث خواهد شد
واکنش ایران
درهمین حال، رامین مهمانپرست، سخنگوی وزارت امور خارجه ایران، گفته است این اتهامات «فتارهای نخ نما » مبتنی بر سیاست های خصمانه و دیرینه است
رامین مهمانپرست این اتهامات را «نمایش مضحکی» در راستای «سناریوسازی های خاص و با اهداف تفرقه افکنانه از سوی دشمنان اسلام و منطقه» خوانده است
سخنگوی وزارت امور خارجه ایران اضافه کرده است: طراحان این قبیل سناریوهای ساختگی هدفی جز ایجاد اختلاف و کمک به خروج اسرائیل از انزوای موجود ندارند
علی اکبر جوانفکر، مشاور رییس جمهوری ایران نیز در نخستین واکنش گفته است که اتهام های آمریکا، «ساختگی» و «یک داستان کودکانه» است
وزارت امور خارجه آمریکا، ایران را «فعالترین کشور در حمایت از تروریسم» می داند
ایران نخستین بار در سال ۱۹۸۴ به عنوان حامی تروریسم از سوی ایالات متحده در فهرست سیاه قرار گرفت
منبع فارسی: رادیو فردا
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