AFP/Tehran

 

 


Iran yesterday hardened its denial of involvement in a thwarted assassination plot in Washington, with its supreme leader slamming the US accusations as “absurd” and without effect.
The remarks—the first direct response by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei—came as Iran’s government again urged Saudi Arabia to be wary over the claims that Iranian officials tried to contract a Mexican drug cartel to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington.
The US government is rallying other nations to its bid to further isolate Iran over the plot and has provided allies with details it says prove the outlandish assassination bid was genuine.
US President Barack Obama on Thursday warned Iran would be held to account over the alleged plot, which he described as part of a pattern of “dangerous and reckless” behaviour by Tehran.
Iran’s strenuous denials of involvement, made ever since the alleged plot was made public on Tuesday, were capped yesterday with Khamenei’s speech.
“It’s a meaningless and absurd accusation regarding a number of Iranians,” he said in a speech carried by state television.
“But it has not stuck and it will not stick,” he said.
Khamenei added defiantly: “They say that they want to isolate Iran. They are the ones who are isolated.”
US officials admit they do not know which of Iran’s leaders, if any, are implicated.
But Obama stressed that “even if at the highest levels there was not detailed operational knowledge, there has to be accountability with respect to anybody in the Iranian government engaging in this kind of activity.”
The US Justice Department and FBI say the trail leads to officials inside the Quds Force, a special operations outfit within Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.
Quds Force personnel are said to have transferred nearly $100,000 to the bank account used by a member of a Mexican drug cartel who was really a paid US informant who tipped off the FBI.
The money was allegedly a down payment for a $1.5mn hit on the Saudi ambassador, Adel al-Jubeir, possibly through the bombing of a Washington restaurant.
An Iranian used-car salesman who is a naturalised US citizen living in Texas, Manssor Arbabsiar, is said to have confessed to acting as the go-between for his cousin, whom he described as a high-ranking official in the Quds Force, and the Mexican cartel.
Arbabsiar is in US custody, charged with the plot.
The US Justice Department has also charged another Iranian identified as Gholam Shakuri, who is said to be an Iran-based Quds Force operative who flew to the US to speak with Ababsiar. Shakuri is now believed to be in Iran.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has said his country “will find a suitable response” against Iran for the alleged plot.
But Iran’s foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, yesterday said: “We hope the Saudis will deal with this issue with caution.”
He accused the US of trying to create divisions in the Middle East but said “Saudis were too wise to get involved in this political game,” according to the Fars news agency, citing comments Salehi made on state radio.
Initial US actions following the alleged plot revelation seem to be focused on adding to US and UN sanctions already imposed on Iran over its controversial nuclear programme.
A US Defence Department spokesman on Wednesday downplayed the possibility of US military action against Iran, though he said the final decision rests with Obama. Page 35