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U.S. arrests man in connection with plot to kill Saudi ambassador


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Posted

U.S. arrests man in connection with plot to kill Saudi ambassador

2011-10-12 20:03:31 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) -- Authorities in the United States arrested a man last month who is accused of working with the Iranian government to assassinate the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the U.S. during a bomb attack in Washington, D.C., prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen holding both Iranian and U.S. passports, was arrested on September 29 at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. His contact in Iran, Gholam Shakuri, has also been charged in connection with the plot but remains at large.

"The Department of Justice is announcing charges against two people who allegedly attempted to carry out a deadly plot that was directed by factions of the Iranian government to assassinate a foreign ambassador here in the United States," said Attorney General Eric Holder during a press conference on Tuesday.

According to a criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of New York, Arbabsiar is alleged to have orchestrated a $1.5 million assassination plot with Shakuri, an Iranian-based member of the Qods Force, and other Iranian co-conspirators. The Qods Force is a special operations unit of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) which is accused of sponsoring and promoting terrorist activities abroad.

According to the allegations, Arbabsiar and his co-conspirators in Iran plotted the murder of the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir, between May 2011 and October 2011. He met on a number of occasions in Mexico with a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent who was posing as an associate of a violent international drug trafficking cartel.

"The [first] meeting, which took place in May in Mexico, was the first of a series that would result in an international conspiracy by elements of the Iranian government to pay the informant $1.5 million to murder the Ambassador on U.S. soil, according to documents we filed today in court," Holder said. "According to the complaint, those discussions led Arbabsiar - with Shakuri's approval - to facilitate the wiring of approximately $100,000 into a bank account in the United States as a down payment for the attempted assassination."

The complaint alleges that Arbabsiar met with the undercover DEA agent in Mexico on May 24 where Arbabsiar inquired as to the agent's knowledge with respect to explosives and explained that he was interested in, among other things, attacking an embassy of Saudi Arabia.

In the following weeks, in June and July, Arbabsiar returned to Mexico and held additional meetings with the agent during which he allegedly explained that his contacts in Iran had discussed a number of violent missions for the agent and his associates to perform, including the murder of Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir.

On July 14, while meeting in Mexico, the undercover agent told Arbabsiar that he would need four men to carry out the Ambassador's murder and that his price to carry out the assassination was $1.5 million. Arbabsiar allegedly agreed and stated that the murder of the Ambassador should be handled first, before the execution of other attacks.

During the same meeting, according to the court documents, Arbabsiar also told the agent that his cousin is a 'big general' in the Iranian military who focuses on matters outside Iran and that he had taken certain, unspecified actions related to a bombing in Iraq. The Iranian government has previously been accused of funding and supporting attacks in Iraq.

Several days later, on July 17, the agent told Arbabsiar that one of his workers had already traveled to Washington, D.C. to surveill the Ambassador. He also raised the possibility of innocent bystanders being killed, but Arbabsiar allegedly urged the agent to go forward despite the likelihood of mass casualties.

"They want that guy done, if the hundred go with him fuc_k 'em," Arbabsiar allegedly told the agent when discussing the plan to carry out a bomb attack on a restaurant which the Ambassador frequently visits. When the agent noted that U.S. Senators who dine at the restaurant could also be killed, Arbabsiar allegedly said that would be "no big deal."

On August 1 and August 9, with Shakuri's approval, Arbabsiar caused two overseas wire transfers totaling approximately $100,000 to be sent to an FBI undercover account as a down payment for the DEA agent to carry out the assassination. Arbabsiar later explained to the agent that he would pay the remainder of the $1.5 million after the assassination was carried out.

Nearly two months later, on September 20, the DEA agent informed Arbabsiar that the operation was ready and requested that Arbabsiar either pay one half of the agreed upon price for the murder or that Arbabsiar personally travel to Mexico as collateral for the final payment of the fee. According to the complaint, Arbabsiar agreed to travel to Mexico to guarantee final payment for the murder.

Just over a week later, on September 28, Arbabsiar flew to Mexico which triggered an arrest warrant to be issued. "The aforementioned arrest warrant triggered an immigration alert by Mexico's National Migration Institute (INM) in accordance with the established procedures," the Mexican government said in a statement.

Because of the arrest warrant, Arbabsiar was denied entry into Mexico and returned to the starting point of his journey. "In strict compliance with domestic and international law, Mexico was able to neutralize a significant risk to Mexico's national security, while at the same time reinforcing bilateral and reciprocal cooperation with the United States," the Mexican government said.

The next day, upon his arrival at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, Arbabsiar was arrested by federal agents. According to court documents, he allegedly confessed to his participation in the murder plot during interviews.

According to the complaint, Arbabsiar also admitted to agents that, in connection with this plot, he was recruited, funded, and directed by men he understood to be senior officials in Iran's Qods Force. He allegedly said these Iranian officials were aware of and approved of the use of the DEA agent in connection with the plot, the payments to the the agent, the means by which the Ambassador would be killed in the United States and the casualties that would likely result.

Both Arbabsiar and Shakuri have been charged with conspiracy to murder a foreign official, conspiracy to engage in foreign travel and use of interstate and foreign commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction (explosives), and conspiracy to commit an act of international terrorism transcending national boundaries. Arbabsiar is further charged with an additional count of foreign travel and use of interstate and foreign commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire.

After the details of the alleged plot were made public, U.S. President Barack Obama called Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir to underscore that the U.S. government believes the plot to be a 'flagrant violation' of U.S. and international law. Obama also attended a meeting of his national security team to discuss the alleged plot and thank law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

Meanwhile, the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, D.C. expressed its appreciation to the agencies of the U.S. government. "The attempted plot is a despicable violation of international norms, standards and conventions and is not in accord with the principles of humanity," the Embassy said in a statement.

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-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-10-12

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Posted

The title is a little misleading as this was for certain an Iranian plot and the Saudis have voiced this belief as well as the U.S. This in tandem with the now explicit calls from Washington for Assad to go signal to me the inevitable war with Syria and Iran is getting closer.

Posted

I heard on the news yesterday that the Saudi's said "we hope other nations get involved because we don't want to go to war with Iran'.

Well, tickle my tits til Christmas......Saudi Arabia one of the biggest violators of human rights, want to keep their kids safe, whilst other countries kids are sent in to die. No doubt Obama will obey at some point, that is if he can bow low enough first!

Posted (edited)

I do think there is a plot, and I think the Americans would not be so stupid as to invent something which would blow up in their faces and give Iran, which is gaining in regional power, even more influence.

However, if you read the comments by US officials, no one is coming right out and saying that this plot is coming from the top levels of the Iranian government. Oh, they write that this needs to be looked into, but no one is accusing them.

For me, it seems that the plot was devised by some whacko who got assistance from someone in Iran, even from an official or semi-official group. But I would be surprised if this came from on top.

Edited by Scott
Posted (edited)

Could be that it is just some wacko that operated independently from the rest of the Iranian government, but it could be that the rest are involved as well. It would not surprise me either way.

Edited by Ulysses G.
Posted (edited)

False Flag Hollywood script

Ok, so what about the confession and the audiovisual documentation?

All investigated & documented by who?

puleeze a sting setup for 1.5 million with a supposed informant Mexican drug cartel type? You really think that is where someone goes for this level of job if such a job existed??

Yeah I am buying this.....Right after Eric Holder's giant botching of the Fast & Furious arms deal

...again with Mexican drug cartel types....

I think Americans who believe this kind of crap deserve the government they now seem to have

Edited by flying
Posted

False Flag Hollywood script

Ok, so what about the confession and the audiovisual documentation?

All investigated & documented by who?

puleeze a sting setup for 1.5 million with a supposed informant Mexican drug cartel type? You really think that is where someone goes for this level of job if such a job existed??

Yeah I am buying this.....Right after Eric Holder's giant botching of the Fast & Furious arms deal

...again with Mexican drug cartel types....

I think Americans who believe this kind of crap deserve the government they now seem to have

Just supposing for a minute you are right and it is a false flag incident I woulds still applaud it if it finally resulted in the Iranian regime being taken out. As it is I suspect there is no need for any false flag operation as a pretext to attack Iran as their behavior has been inviting such an attack for years. We are not dealing with a logical regime here but one motivated by Shiite Messianic fairy tales.

We do not worship Iran, we worship Allah. For patriotism is another name for paganism. I say let this land [iran] burn. I say let this land go up in smoke, provided Islam emerges triumphant in the rest of the world - Ayatollah Khomeini

Posted (edited)

Just supposing for a minute you are right and it is a false flag incident I woulds still applaud it if it finally resulted in the Iranian regime being taken out. As it is I suspect there is no need for any false flag operation as a pretext to attack Iran as their behavior has been inviting such an attack for years. We are not dealing with a logical regime here but one motivated by Shiite Messianic fairy tales.

It is no secret that some sectors of the US & Israel have been chomping at the bit to bomb Iran's *alleged* nuclear plants.

Many will now *try* to use this weak excuse as a reason to bomb yet another country that has oil or any possibility of having arms that rival the aggressors.

Yet some of the truly aggressive do not even declare their Nukes...Nor do they take part in the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty.

Yet when we get right down to it...WHO has been arrested & WHO was the person making the so called request to purchase a hit?

Iranian born U.S. citizen Mansour Ababsiar

As for illogical regimes as you call them.....Who is invading countries more than the usual suspects? Those who live in glass houses seem to enjoy throwing the most bombs & missiles about. All the while claiming they need to throw more because other countries are unstable or pose a threat.

Edited by flying
Posted

So lets get this straight.

16 Saudi's hijack aircraft and fly them into the twin towers and the Pentagon and that is not in anyway connected to Saudi Arabia, and two nut jobs yet to do anything have been uncovered in a very amateurish plot and this is the fault of the Iranian leadership and could prove the excuse needed to go to war. Give us a break please!

Posted

So lets get this straight.

16 Saudi's hijack aircraft and fly them into the twin towers and the Pentagon and that is not in anyway connected to Saudi Arabia, and two nut jobs yet to do anything have been uncovered in a very amateurish plot and this is the fault of the Iranian leadership and could prove the excuse needed to go to war. Give us a break please!

Iran has the capability to severely disrupt the shipments of oil to the west, even if it is attacked! So lets hope this does not happen...

Posted

So lets get this straight.

16 Saudi's hijack aircraft and fly them into the twin towers and the Pentagon and that is not in anyway connected to Saudi Arabia, and two nut jobs yet to do anything have been uncovered in a very amateurish plot and this is the fault of the Iranian leadership and could prove the excuse needed to go to war. Give us a break please!

We're not talking about Al Queda here. We're talking about Iran. Totally different topics.

Back to Iran. Here is a clue:

The puzzle is why the Iranians would undertake such a risky operation, and with such embarrassingly poor tradecraft. Soleimani and his group are some of the savviest clandestine operators in the world. In past columns, I’ve likened him to “Karla,” the diabolically clever Russian spymaster in John le Carre’s novels. Why would the Iranian Karla turn to such a bunch of screwballs?

Here’s the answer offered by senior U.S. officials: The Iranians are stressed, at home and abroad, in ways that are leading them to engage in riskier behavior.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/those-keystone-iranians/2011/10/12/gIQAlixDgL_story.html
Posted

So lets get this straight.

16 Saudi's hijack aircraft and fly them into the twin towers and the Pentagon and that is not in anyway connected to Saudi Arabia, and two nut jobs yet to do anything have been uncovered in a very amateurish plot and this is the fault of the Iranian leadership and could prove the excuse needed to go to war. Give us a break please!

We're not talking about Al Queda here. We're talking about Iran. Totally different topics.

Back to Iran. Here is a clue:

The puzzle is why the Iranians would undertake such a risky operation, and with such embarrassingly poor tradecraft. Soleimani and his group are some of the savviest clandestine operators in the world. In past columns, I've likened him to "Karla," the diabolically clever Russian spymaster in John le Carre's novels. Why would the Iranian Karla turn to such a bunch of screwballs?

Here's the answer offered by senior U.S. officials: The Iranians are stressed, at home and abroad, in ways that are leading them to engage in riskier behavior.

http://www.washingto...xDgL_story.html

Jingthing

Complete baloney and you really know it deep inside. The whole thing is farcical. There is not one bit of the entire plot that bears the hallmarks of a top level Government sponsored assasination. Just objectively if you can, for one moment consider ...motive. What possible reason would iran have for wanting to draw such international attention to itself in carrying out what was supposed to be a covert assassination of a Saudi Diplomat (remember the Iranians would never have acknowledged responsibility). What possible gain would there be to go to the difficult lengths of carrying out the murder on US soil (once again, unlike a terrorist organization Iran would never have been able to claim responsibility, so ..whats the point?). Why not kill a Saudi Diplomat closer to home in an Arabic country? The whole thing is bolleux and once again it frightens me to think that you are representative of US citizens and believe all this garbage without giving it due consideration. The US needs another war, it needs the money and there is a President and his administration need re-electing next year. Sadly the people who will pay for that will be the young men and women of the armed forces who once again face being put in harms way for the least noble of all causes, ..political ambition.

Posted

These claims are a farce. What benefit would Iran gain by carrying out such a plot? Nothing. Except giving the US half a reason to install further sactions or even the us of military actions against her.

It seems a little suspicious to me that these claims have come only 2 weeks after the Iranian government released the 2 US citizens that were detained for illegally entering Iranian soveriegn land. Now that Iran released the 2 [ good bargaining chips ] on good faith. The US now has the dutch courage to come up with this plot. The US government used similar tactics back in 2002/2003 when they bullshitted to the UN and the world about Saddam having WMD's just so they could use it as a precursor to invade Iraq and get a foot hold in the Middle East.

Here we go again.:angry:

Posted (edited)

These claims are a farce. What benefit would Iran gain by carrying out such a plot?

The same "benefit" that they get from 100s of other terrorist actions that they back all over the world with the added "benefit" of a successful operation on US soil. It really is not that difficult to figure out.

Edited by Ulysses G.
Posted

Here’s the answer offered by senior U.S. officials: The Iranians are stressed, at home and abroad, in ways that are leading them to engage in riskier behavior.

Just as easy & more true ............

The Iranians USA is stressed, at home and abroad, in ways that are leading them to engage in riskier behavior.

Posted

These claims are a farce. What benefit would Iran gain by carrying out such a plot?

The same "benefit" that they get from 100s of other terrorist actions that they back all over the world with the added "benefit" of a successful operation on US soil. It really is not that difficult to figure out.

You are really not thinking straight. Furthermore what 'benefit' is to be had from a successful operation on US soil? So many people swallow this rubbish without applying an ounce of objective analytical thinking.

What other terrorist actions do they back all over the world? Well it is rumoured they provide weapons to the Taliban in Afghanistan, but we used to do that didn't we during the Taliban fight against the Russian occupation. I personally believe they were the sponsors of the Lockerbie bombing, but that was promised as a retaliatory action for a US war ship shooting down an Iranian civilian airliner. Apart from engaging in the sale of arms to organisations various, which is exactly what the US, UK, France, China and Russia do then what else is there?

The Israeli's have their finger on the trigger and for some obscure reason the USA continues to be Israel's glove puppet, it is laughable really if it wasn't so serious. There is absolutely zero motive for this ridiculous plot, yet already public opinion is swaying in the US to turn Iran into a glass pit. When will we learn the lessons of the very recent past and understand that as populations we continue to be manipulated and lied to by a few bad men, who do so only for their own personal gain. I am not taking sides, I am thinking straight and will apportion blame to one side or the other as it is appropriate. In this case, the plot is a feeble excuse to take us yet again to the brink of another war, the benefits of which to the US, Saudi and Israel are too many to mention. Just think about it for a minute, it's not unpatriotic to do so.

Posted

Who would have believed that the CIA once contemplated the use of poisoned cigars to wack Castro. Who would have thought Kennedy would have allowed the Eisenhower initated Bay of Pigs invasion to proceed? If those plots were announced today, no one would believe that such lamebrained schemes were serious. By the same token, the iranians are cut off from reality and what we may see as ridiculous is very real in the Iranian world.

Posted

The whole thing is bolleux and once again it frightens me to think that you are representative of US citizens and believe all this garbage without giving it due consideration. The US needs another war, it needs the money and there is a President and his administration need re-electing next year. Sadly the people who will pay for that will be the young men and women of the armed forces who once again face being put in harms way for the least noble of all causes, ..political ambition.

Yes it is just (another) poorly executed false flag event...

I would like to say I do not think JT represents the majority of US citizens like myself that actually live in the US.

Folks I know all feel the same...That this is just more BS to reflect the heat from big problems at home.

Come November if the so called super committee does not find over a trillion in cuts ( which they wont ) then across the board cuts go into motion. Some of which are cuts to the Military Industrial Complex. TPTB & those who profit from our wildly exaggerated claims of TERRORISM ....will not let those dollars go without a fight/false flag.

Add to that Eric Holder who is trying to be the hero in this charade was on the bubble of being bounced last week for his total incompetence with the fast & furious arms mess he created.

Lastly it is no secret that Israel has been begging for a so called reason & US approval to bomb Iran.

But yes as you say many politicians & those that pull their strings make money from wars. They also need to deflect the attention

& mounting civil unrest here in the States over the continued spiral down the drain of bankruptcy/default/ debt ceiling raises & more.

Yet they cannot see what was a main contributor to bringing us to the cliff.

Like many great empires that fell before

Posted

Who would have believed that the CIA once contemplated the use of poisoned cigars to wack Castro. Who would have thought Kennedy would have allowed the Eisenhower initated Bay of Pigs invasion to proceed? If those plots were announced today, no one would believe that such lamebrained schemes were serious. By the same token, the iranians are cut off from reality and what we may see as ridiculous is very real in the Iranian world.

Who would have believed the CIA and the poisoned cigar

Who would have believed the Bay of pigs

Who would have believed the Gulf of Tonkin

Who would have believed the USS Liberty

Who would have believed the WMD's in Iraq

Who would have believed in the 1950's CIA plans to conduct an operation exactly the same as the twin towers in order to garner public opinion for a war

Who would have believed an unprofessional nut job wanting to kill a Saudi Ambassador in possibly the most difficult place to do so..the USA

yes all lamebrained schemes by a succession of Governments cut off from reality. Look for the enemy within Geriatrickid. As Flying has so elequently and correctly put, the US is currently up sh*t creek without a paddle. There is only one temporary way to avoid swathing cuts in the defence industry and that is another war, and its coming soon. God bless America and the people who run her..the Corporations.

Posted

To try to apply western "logic" in determining what wave train some of the Jihad backing countries may be on, would seem to be an exercise in futility for many of us. We acknowledge that Thai logic, thinking is beyond our comprehension many times, and then the same people propose they have the religious zealots figured out????

Most of us have acknowledged, as we have gotten older and somewhat wiser/experienced that there are a multitude of things we do not, nor will understand in our lifetime. Those that may have doubts on this may have missed out living with a wife, Thai or otherwise, teenagers, the military, or exposure to religious fanatics. Looking back I can see a lot of similarities between the mindset of all of them.

Posted

I always hesitate to make a post immediately after Scott, but here goes.

One school of thought is that Ahmadinejad is behind the failed plot. He has been in something of a snit lately due to losing influence among the various Mullahs Traditionally he gains support whenever there is a further rift with the outside world and, in particular, the US. My conjecture is the plot was never intended to succeed but was planned for failure all along in order for Ahmadinejad to get back on the correct side of the powers.

In line with this reasoning, the plot had to be extremely simple for this Attorney General, in this administration, to uncover it and make announcements that might make them look like the fools they are at a later date.

It is very possible this entire deal is a set-up by Iran.

I don't see it as a black flag operation by the US/Israel. If Israel decides to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities they won't need a black flag operation to do so. All they will need is a little air space to fly through.

No! I have no links to provide so don't waste your time and mine by asking for them.

Posted (edited)

To try to apply western "logic" in determining what wave train some of the Jihad backing countries may be on, would seem to be an exercise in futility for many of us. We acknowledge that Thai logic, thinking is beyond our comprehension many times, and then the same people propose they have the religious zealots figured out????

Most of us have acknowledged, as we have gotten older and somewhat wiser/experienced that there are a multitude of things we do not, nor will understand in our lifetime. Those that may have doubts on this may have missed out living with a wife, Thai or otherwise, teenagers, the military, or exposure to religious fanatics. Looking back I can see a lot of similarities between the mindset of all of them.

Well said. I lived and worked in Iran when Jimmy Carter screwed the pooch. I think huge differences in 'logic' exacerbated the situation.

I don't think we have all the facts in the Saudi plot. You can bet mideast vs. west 'logic' won't make things any easier. But, even the Iranians would laugh at some of these posters with a hard-on for the U.S. laugh.gif

Edited by rijb
Posted

To try to apply western "logic" in determining what wave train some of the Jihad backing countries may be on, would seem to be an exercise in futility for many of us. We acknowledge that Thai logic, thinking is beyond our comprehension many times, and then the same people propose they have the religious zealots figured out????

Most of us have acknowledged, as we have gotten older and somewhat wiser/experienced that there are a multitude of things we do not, nor will understand in our lifetime. Those that may have doubts on this may have missed out living with a wife, Thai or otherwise, teenagers, the military, or exposure to religious fanatics. Looking back I can see a lot of similarities between the mindset of all of them.

Well said. I lived and worked in Iran when Jimmy Carter screwed the pooch. I think huge differences in 'logic' exacerbated the situation.

I don't think we have all the facts in the Saudi plot. You can bet mideast vs. west 'logic' won't make things any easier. But, even the Iranians would laugh at some of these posters with a hard-on for the U.S. laugh.gif

I was there as well during that time frame. Lovely country until Carter visited on 12/31/77.

Posted

I always hesitate to make a post immediately after Scott, but here goes.

One school of thought is that Ahmadinejad is behind the failed plot. He has been in something of a snit lately due to losing influence among the various Mullahs Traditionally he gains support whenever there is a further rift with the outside world and, in particular, the US. My conjecture is the plot was never intended to succeed but was planned for failure all along in order for Ahmadinejad to get back on the correct side of the powers.

In line with this reasoning, the plot had to be extremely simple for this Attorney General, in this administration, to uncover it and make announcements that might make them look like the fools they are at a later date.

It is very possible this entire deal is a set-up by Iran.

I don't see it as a black flag operation by the US/Israel. If Israel decides to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities they won't need a black flag operation to do so. All they will need is a little air space to fly through.

No! I have no links to provide so don't waste your time and mine by asking for them.

Chuckd,

I already posted that Shiite prophesy predicts great misfortune and suffering will be experienced by their people before their Messiah comes, in a twisted way of thinking this could be brought about by their being attacked by the U.S or Israel.

Your point about Ahmadinejad's domestic problems is well made, I have read that he has a power struggle going on with the top Iranian Ayatollah and Ahmadinejad's political allies have been barred from contesting the next election, so his power may be slipping away thus causing risky actions.

Posted (edited)

The Washington Post link I cited before suggests the OPPOSITE. The Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, NOT Ahmadinejad.

A final factor in this unlikely plot is the political turmoil in Tehran. The Quds Force is seen by analysts as the executive-action arm of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, who is in a bitter battle with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. During this feud, the Iranian ministries of foreign affairs and intelligence have increasingly been hobbled, leaving the field to the Quds Force. It’s a chaotic situation tailor-made for risk-takers, score-settlers and freelancers.
Edited by Jingthing

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