FBI, DEA Thwart Iranian Plot to Kill Saudi Ambassador on US Soil

[Cail]

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/11...nvolving-iran/

[Posted at 2:22 p.m. ET] The criminal complaint filed Tuesday in the Southern District of New York names Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen holding both Iranian and U.S. passports, and Gholam Shakuri, an Iran-based member of Iran’s Qods Force, which is a special operations unit of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that is said to sponsor and promote terrorist activities abroad, according to the Justice Department.

The men are charged with the following crimes: 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.

[Posted at 2:19 p.m. ET] FBI Director Robert Mueller said the alleged terror plot involving Iran "reads like the pages of a Hollywood script."

"This case illustrates that we live in a world where borders and boundaries are increasingly irrelevant," Mueller said.

[Posted at 2:14 p.m. ET] An alleged plot - involving Iran - to commit terrorism inside the United States "is a fabrication," Ali Akbar Javanfekr, spokesman for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said Tuesday.

Javanfekr said the Iranian government is awaiting details, but suggested U.S. authorities are attempting to distract American citizens from "domestic problems" by convincing them there is an outside threat.

[Posted at 2:12 p.m. ET] An FBI agent's affidavit obtained by CNN Tuesday accused two men of conspiring to murder Saudi Ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir.

The complaint alleges that Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri began a plot this past spring to kill Al-Jubeir.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in a news conference that the terror plot was a $1.5 million dollar "murder for hire" plan.

Officials also said one of the suspects told an informant that killing civilians, including senators, during the attack was "no problem" and "no big deal."

[Posted at 2:00 p.m. ET] The FBI and the DEA have disrupted a plot involving Iran to commit terrorism inside the United States, a senior U.S. official told CNN.

The official said the alleged plan was directed by elements of the Iranian government and involved a plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States.

This story is developing. We'll bring you the latest information as soon as we get it.

[tyven]

i wonder what elvis and kuya think when camels try to kill other camels. chalk up another victory for the white man!

[Chun Liroy]

i wonder what elvis and kuya think when camels try to kill other camels. chalk up another victory for the white man!

We're done here.

[Dimmauk]

i wonder what elvis and kuya think when camels try to kill other camels. chalk up another victory for the white man!

LOL. The ambassador name is Adele al Justin beber? Maybe they hate their music?

[Xno Kappa]

i wonder what elvis and kuya think when camels try to kill other camels. chalk up another victory for the white man!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're done here.

Unless there's a jew involved somewhere and/or feelsorryformepalestinian.

[mallister]

how big of a tool do you have to be to find FBI informants when you're looking for a zeta cartel killteam?

[Brutala]

So just any explosive can be called a WMD now? Blix must wish he had thought of that in '02.

[Ezek]

Questions from former CIA operative Baer about the alleged Iranian plot

"There are very few groups operationally better than Iran’s Quds Force. They know what they are doing. The only proxies they use are ones they’ve vetted. They don’t get their own citizens get involved. They send other people to do it for them from Hezbollah to Bosnian Muslims. It would be completely uncharacteristic for Iran to be caught red handed."

"So why were they all of a sudden so sloppy? Why would they take this risk now? Who cares about Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Ali Jaber, anyway? He’s not a royal. He’s probably not the main interlocutor between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Why not go for Saudi Prince Bandar in London? Many other targets would serve Iranian interests better."

"Everybody is looking for evidence that there is going to be a confrontation with Iran. Everybody is jumping on this as a sign of conflict to come. But there are many questions here that need to be answered."

'Completely out of character'

But Mr Baer says it is not credible that the Iranian government is behind the plot.

"There may be a rogue element behind it. This doesn't fit their modus operandi at all. It's completely out of character; they're much better than this," he said.

"They wouldn't be sending money through an American bank; they wouldn't be going to the cartels in Mexico to do this.

"It's just not the way they work. I've followed them for 30 years and they're much more careful. They always use a proxy between them and the operation, and in this case they didn't."

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn....lot/?hpt=hp_c2
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-1...site=melbourne

[Kuya]

Seems pretty risky for the Iranian government to try this.

[Kuya]

Update to this: Apparently, US officials don't actually know if anybody high up in the Iranian government is involved, but for some reason that hasn't stopped them from acting like it were true.

Iran’s supreme leader and the shadowy Quds Force covert operations unit were likely aware of an alleged plot to kill Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, but hard evidence of that is scant, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

The United States does not have solid information about “exactly how high it goes,” one official said. . . .The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said their confidence that at least some Iranian leaders were aware of the alleged plot was based largely on analyses and their understanding of how the Quds Force operates.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...79B7VO20111012

Not surprising that the government would run with it though. The USG has been saber rattling at Iran for atleast a decade now. And it tossing out these accusations shouldn't be surprising given that Iran also constantly accuses the US and Israel of being behind the assassination of its nuclear scientists.

[Cail]

I just hope this doesnt escalate beyond "hey you did this" "oh yea? we'll show you for accusing us" etc

[Mazmaz]

US should just adopt a national "Let's Start a War" day

[ronin sparthos]

If McCain were president we'd be bombing Tehran right now.

[Apelila]

The story is too weird currently to be 100%. Intellegence services don't suddenly go back on decades of methodology to use a used car salesman to hire a mexiacan hitman. Its like a B movie plot, the only thing that's missing is a senator or the president on the target list.

But its apparent someone in Iran was involved, the question is will we find out who or will this degenerate into something much much worse?

[mallister]

we are waiting, with popcorn.

[NiggaFromHarlem]

Fuck this guy:


http://thehill.com/video/house/18694...n-qact-of-warq

Rep. King calls failed bomb plot an "act of war"

House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King called the foiled plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador in America an “act of war” Tuesday.

“This would have been an act of war…this goes beyond anything that I’m aware of that’s happened before,” Rep. King continued, “it’s certainly raised relationship between the U.S. and Iran to a very precipitous level.”

King suggested that the U.S. take some type of military action on Iran in response to the planned attack to the Saudi of Arabian Embassy in Washington, D.C. Two men are in custody with planning the attack and the Iranian government demonstrated some level of involvement in bomb plot.

In addition military steps, Rep. King said he would support the removal of Iranian officials working in the U.S.

The fact that some people who have power in government actually think this is an act of war that requires a military response is fucking depressing. All I can think is: "here we go again."

[Cail]

just wow.

[Apelila]

The fact that some people who have power in government actually think this is an act of war that requires a military response is fucking depressing. All I can think is: "here we go again."

Eh, that's just posturing and saber rattling. He's pandering to his base, nothing more.

When the president's and his advisers start's publicly calling for unilateral action, then it's time to worry. The response so far has been appropriately measured, the sanctions that are being called for would allow the US to track money coming out or Iran to back up evidence of this. Any military response would be as shooting someone because their child called your mom fat.

[kuronosan]

Guarantee you if a Repub gets elected we'll be going to war with Iran, just because they're fucking idiots and don't get it.

[Abandon]

I would like to proclaim that not a single fuck is given, but lord knows i'll fuck around and be deployed out there within a month of me saying so.