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Subscribe to RSSU.S. officials have released new information accusing three high level Iranian Revolutionary Guard officials of overseeing an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador. One of them, a deputy commander in the Iranian Qods Force, had previously been accused of plotting a highly sophisticated attack that killed five U.S. soldiers in Iraq, according to U.S. government officials and documents made public Tuesday afternoon.
The Qods Force official who coordinated the alleged plot was identified by the Treasury Department as Abdul-Reza Shahlai, the cousin of the suspect, Manssor Arbabsiar. Arababsiar was accused by U.S. law enforcement officials of seeking to carry out the plot to kill Saudi Ambassador Abdul al-Jubeir in Washington, D.C. and carry out other terrorist attacks in the U.S.
Three years ago, Shahlai -- the key Iranian official coordinating the attack -- was designated as a terrorist by the Treasury Department for fomenting violence in Iraq, including working with the anti-U.S. Mahdi Army to carry out a mass attack on U.S. soldiers in Iraq, according to Treasury documents.
In particular, he was accused of planning a Jan. 20, 2007, attack by Mahdi Army militia members aimed at U.S. soldiers in Karbala, south of Baghdad. In that attack, up to a dozen fighters with false IDs disguised themselves as an American security team to penetrate the provincial government building in Karbala and open fire. One U.S. soldier was killed in the initial attack and four others were abducted and found shot to death soon after.
Shahlai was not identified by name in the criminal complaint released by the Justice Department, referred to only as a "cousin" of the suspect, a high-ranking official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
But on Tuesday the Treasury Department identified him and two other senior Iranian Qods Force officers as being involved in both the earlier attack and the plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador on U.S. soil and imposed economic sanctions against them. The Treasury Department move significantly ratchets up the pressure against Tehran.
The senior Qods Force officers were identified as Maj. Gen. Qasem Solemami and Halem Abdollahi.
Solemami oversaw the Iranian officers involved in the plot, according to the Treasury announcement. Soleimani has twice been previously blacklisted by the department, most recently for allegedly overseeing Qods Forces in involved in human rights abuses against protesters in Syria.
Abdollahi allegedly coordinated aspects of the operation aimed at the Saudi ambassador, according to the announcement.
The Qods Force, an arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, is described by Treasury as the Iranian government's primary foreign action arm for support of terrorist organizations and extremist groups around the world. It is accused of providing training, logistical assistance and material and financial support to the Taliban, Lebanese Hezbollah and Hamas, among others. Its officers have also supported attacks against U.S. and allied troops and diplomatic missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Treasury announcement.
In a strongly worded letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon obtained by NBC News, Iran’s Ambassador to the U.N., Mohammad Khazaee, said Iran “strongly and categorically rejects these fabricated and baseless allegations.”
Accusing the U.S. of “warmongering,” Khazaee charged that U.S. authorities were carrying out an “evil plot in line with their anti-Iranian policy to divert attention from the current economic and social problems at home and the popular revolutions and protests against United States’ long supported dictatorial regimes abroad.”
Earlier Tuesday, Iran rejected U.S. claims that Tehran was involved in a plot to assassinate al-Jubeir.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast called the claims a "prefabricated scenario."
"These old-fashioned behaviors are based on the long-standing hostile American-Zionist policies and are ridiculous show in line with scenarios to provoke division," the semiofficial Fars news agency quoted Mehmanparast as saying.
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Take them out behind the barn and treat them like you would any other rabid dog.
The Iranian military had to have the approval of Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollahs. The military would never act on it's own without the approval of the Iranian leadership.
Are there ANY mainstream media outlets that are TRUELY critical of what the U.S. Government is up too?
Yes, FOX is faux news, but do any of you believe MSNBC, CNN, ABC, or CBS are better?
I think the average can see through the recent anti-Iranian headlines for what its worth: DIVERSION.
The enemy is WITHIN
Ya, I think I may have eaten some spoiled cauliflower... :(
You're an idiot, if you don't think Iran has special forces to kill people in other countries. Every country does.
Yep. Pretty much right on all that. When it comes to the government sleeping over, ya just have to keep one eye open. Anyone who expects they have privacy are fooling themselves. If the Country knew what all the government has tabs on there would be a cry for mass hangings. One thing a bit strange though with this article is the fact Treasury is mentioned a few times. I mean where was treasury coming into the spy/terrorists picture?....bc
Geeze, just because you don't like our government, and just because our government is on unfriendly terms does not mean Iran is guiltless, innocent or well-intentioned.
Perhaps you will recall that they advocate wiping Israel off the map (in the UN General assembly, yet! pretty civilized folks, huh?) and they shoot there own citizens in the street like dogs (or are you the only one that didn't see that beautiful, young woman bleeding to death when she was shot for being an unarmed protestor?)
Get a grip, Iran is a bad actor with VERY bad intentions, and long history of lying
Just because a government official claims something doesn't mean it is true. I haven't seen any evidence of anything. A guy in the US claiming to work with someone that says "Oh, yeah my cousin is this and that." So let me see some wiretaps of the cousin that is in the revolutionary guard directing this plan. Show me some proof and if there is no proof then the US government shouldn't be making such BS allegations.
Iran has experts that could carry out this plan, they don't need to use someone that needs to use a third force that he doesn't apparently have the slightest connections too. Wag the dog.
The people are schepples. I think this repley went into the wrong comment. Leave the Iran's alone.
Yes, and the U.S. was behind 911 and we never went to the moon. There are tens of thousands out there that want you, me, and other Americans dead. Get in the real world idiot.
Good to see the intelligence used successfully to get these guys out of the picture.
In a related report, "federal officials" (a term which can include U.S. Park Service toilet attendants in training) stated they have reliable but uncomfirmed and therefore non-actionable information that Mickey Mouse, an American-born celluloid activist believed to have ties to several Middle Eastern cheese exporters, has been preparing to deploy an IED (instantly erect device) inside a suspected security breach within the outskirts of what Oxymoron (our new military intelligence clearinghouse) had previously reported to be his terrorist co-conspirator, Minnie Mouse.
This is not something to be taken lightly. They actually wanted to kill an ambassador on our soil.
I am a little cynical about anything coming from our AG especially since he has his tit in a wringer over that gun deal. The clearly marked path to Iran makes me wounder if someone didn't lay the trail. Maybe a friend of ours. Who knows? Certainly not our AG.
This event highlights the terror of the Islamic Republic. This is a global war - a jihad and is only scratching the surface. This illegal regime occupying Iran must under no circumstances be allowed to have nuclear weapons. This is an apocalyptic regime that wants to bring an end to humanity - and to conquer Jerusalem as accorded by their "hidden imam ideology" - but as a prerequisite, 2/3rd of humanity must die through havoc, chaos, and famine as accorded by the Hadith. We must support the Iranian people who demand nothing more and nothing less than complete secular democracy. Iran is the only country in the region that offers the hope for true secular democracy - not Egypt, Tunisia, or even Turkey - we have experienced the evils of this regime the hard way and it is time for the international community to stand side-by-side with the Iranian people in getting rid of this barbaric and illegal regime.
correct me if i'am wrong but were we not at war with Iraq? I know the story is saying iran but why is it coming out now? so close to holder having to answer for gun running there are a few stories just today that seem to try to cover or at the least draw away from the fast and furious.. I know others see this but why is this happening i sure hope we are not looking for another war don't we have enough already? last week there was an article about us needing to start something with china... really we do? can you say warmongering?
so our goverment knew for years about this guy ploting against our soldiers and they let him this shows our own goverment really does not care about our military and are willing to risk there lives and wait until it is politicaly in there favor to bring things up more and more we are becoming communist sad our poor forefathers
There is just no pleasing the Me Party extremist in our country. Damned if you do. Damned if you don't.
If the top Iranian leaders knew about this plot they are criminals. If they didn't, they are incompetent. You pick.
Is it to be presumed that the assassination of the Saudi ambassador by bombing an American restaurant, and the plot to bomb the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington, would have been scheduled to coincide with the already announced arrival of that Iranian flotilla off the East Coast of the United States? Is the Iranian theocracy testing America, do they have an ace up their sleeve to prevent retaliation, or are they just crazed by their ideology? These are dangerous times indeed, and it is no time to automatically presume bad faith on the part of the American government. Indeed, the confession of one co-conspirator is in hand. This Iranian regime has been killing Americans for decades with impunity (beginning with the base massacre in Lebanon in the 1980's, continuing through the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts). Iran still harbors Al-Queda fugitives. And it is hell-bent on developing nuclear weapons and the delivery systems (air and sea?) for them. The Iranians are a great people with a great history and civilization, but the current jihadist regime is determined to wage total war against the West and anyone else who objects or gets in their way (including Sunni Muslims). Dark days are ahead; there are no easy solutions; but at least America should speak with one voice on foreign affairs, which traditionally has been that of the President of the U.S.A.
After talking with my cat about this BIG PLOT, he looked at me, shook his head and said :"this whole thing smells the rat !"
I hate talking to my cat.
from Greenwald-To begin with, this episode continues the FBI’s record-setting undefeated streak of heroically saving us from the plots they enable. From all appearances, this is, at best, yet another spectacular “plot” hatched by some hapless loser with delusions of grandeur but without any means to put it into action except with the able assistance of the FBI, which yet again provided it through its own (paid, criminal) sources posing as Terrorist enablers. The Terrorist Mastermind at the center of the plot is a failed used car salesman in Texas with a history of pedestrian money problems. Dive under your bed. “For the entire operation, the government’s confidential sources were monitored and guided by federal law enforcement agents,” explained U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, and “no explosives were actually ever placed anywhere and no one was actually ever in any danger.’
Sorry that you guys took this seriously for a second. We need to hold them accountable.
When will the war mongers stop this tirade against Iran and cease stirring up the pot for more senseless wars in the Middle East and Asia ... the American people are tired, out of work, and their homes are being seized by the banks, and do not want another war.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is an idiot and so is Obama, try saying or publishing that anywhere else
Hurray to the USA
My question, why ever did the Treasury Department declare them terrorists. Is that not the job of Homeland Security, or the Defense Department?
And they were either acting under the direction and control of (highly likely) or on their own (not very likely). But either way, it means that there are very significant players within the Iranian regime that want to attack us on our soil. And anybody foolish enough to believe that they are going to stop with assassinations can resume sticking their head in the sand, so the rest of us can have a clear shot at kicking their butts in the hope of waking them up to reality.
control of Khamenei
The U.S. needs to devote some Intel to tracking down these three Quds force commanders. Specifically If we get any Intel about them being inside Iraq or Afghanistan we should go in and capture them.
If we find out their locations and capture is not feasible/too risky, we should kill them with an airstrike. They cannot be allowed to plot with impunity.
Also I dislike how the article said "Lebanese Hezbollah and Hamas" which some readers may misinterpret as saying Hamas is Lebanese, it is not, it is Palestinian. Also while Hezbollah is based in Lebanon they do have members elsewhere, for instance I saw a documentary "operation smokescreen" on Fox News a few years back about a Hezbollah cell in the U.S. that was buying military equipment and sending them to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Bible says the soul is forever,so wars can't kill an evil person's soul,so wars can't kill evil-that's why the Cross and Gospel of Jesus Christ is so necessary.And Christians can't use a separation of Church and State to fight wars,the Bible teaches that the Church is the Bride of Jesus,so the Church can't be separated from the State,it's not of God.