Iranians Charged in U.S. Over Assassination Plot

[Young Drachma]

Live blog: FBI, DEA thwart terror plot in U.S. involving Iran, officials say – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

U.S. authorities broke up an alleged plot to bomb the Israeli and Saudi Arabian embassies in Washington and assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States, court documents and a U.S. official said on Tuesday.

The alleged plotters were identified as Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri -- both originally from Iran -- in the criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in New York City.

Arbabsiar, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested in late September. Shakuri is still at large.

The plot was disrupted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration.

U.S. officials said one overarching question is whether elements of the Iranian government were behind the plot. Court documents identified Shakuri as a member of the Quds Force, a branch of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Shakuri approved the plan to try to kill the Saudi ambassador during telephone conversations with Arbabsiar, the complaint said.

In July and August, Arbabsiar paid $100,000 (64,086 pounds) to a DEA informant for the murder of Saudi ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir, court documents said.

Arbabsiar was arrested late last month at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. After his arrest, court papers said, Arbabsiar confessed to authorities.

The men are charged with one count of conspiracy to murder a foreign official, two counts of foreign travel and use of interstate and foreign commerce facilities in the commission of murder for hire and one count each of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism.

[Young Drachma]

Now back to your regularly scheduled debates about whether the chick with massive boobs does it for you or not.

[jeff061]

Would foreign governments really be that stupid? Aren't we just begging to be antagonized so we can start bombing?

Bush probably would have let them go ahead with their plan...

[JPhillips]

It's always hard to tell how serious these plots are. Several busts over the years have been much more about aspirations than real ability to cause terror. The recent model plane bomber is a good example.

[Rizon]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Now back to your regularly scheduled debates about whether the chick with massive boobs does it for you or not.

Originally Posted by JPhillips

It's always hard to tell how serious these plots are. Several busts over the years have been much more about aspirations than real ability to cause terror. The recent model plane bomber is a good example.

[JediKooter]

Thank you for keeping us abreast of the situation.

[panerd]

Anyone else skeptical about this whole story? I noticed it very quickly fell off the front page of "breaking huge news" and now the media is kind of backtracking about how accurate the whole story was to begin with. I don't claim to know more than the CIA and don't doubt there are many people that don't like Americans (or in this case Saudis and Israelis also) but it seems way too convenient that the Iranian government and Mexican cartels would be dumb enough to contact a US government informant if they really wanted to pull something like this off. Especially with all of the fallout from the Mexican gun running scandal going on right now. Unfortunately every news site's comments make this an Obama/Holder argument but I figure there might be less of that on here and we might discuss how the internet sort of takes some of the legs off the "Throw this at a wall and see if it sticks" type of propaganda.

[sterlingice]

I thought I was halfways informed about international politics but I was trying to figure out why Iran would be going after the Saudis. Regional rivals, sure, but not assassinate-the-ambassador level hatred. There is nothing to gain and a lot more to lose.

SI

[mckerney]

Used-car salesman as Iran proxy? Why assassination plot doesn't add up for experts. - CSMonitor.com

[Thomkal]

You think if the government created this story, they'd do a better job of it than the craziness that's emerged so far.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

You think if the government created this story, they'd do a better job of it than the craziness that's emerged so far.

I don't think they created a fake plot but I am very skeptical that it ties to Iran's top levels. And yes I think in the past government has very easily been able to pass this off as fact regardless of evidence.

[JPhillips]

I don't think it was made up, but I do wonder how close to execution the plot might have been. Over the years a lot of the terrorism arrests have been about high aspirations with little possibility of execution.