WASHINGTON – US federal authorities foiled a plot by men linked to the Iranian government to kill the Saudi ambassador to the US and to bomb the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, attorney general Eric Holder said yesterday.
The men accused of plotting the attacks were Manssor Arbab Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri, according to court documents filed in New York. The justice department said the men are originally from Iran. Mr Holder said they were connected to the Quds Force, a division of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps that has carried out operations in other countries. Money in support of the plot had been transferred through a bank in New York, he said. The justice department said Mr Shakuri remained at large while Mr Arbabsiar, a naturalised US citizen, was arrested on September 29th. – (New York Times)