Holder: Iran Aimed To Bomb Saudi Ambassador In D.C.
WASHINGTON D.C. (CBS/AP) - Attorney General Eric Holder announced Tuesday a foiled plot by "factions of the Iranian government" to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States.
"The United States is committed to hold Iran accountable for its actions," Holder told reporters during an afternoon news conference.
Ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir has served as Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States since 2007, according to the embassy's website.
Attorney General Eric Holder Press Conference
Podcast
A federal criminal complaint in New York says the two people arrested with conspiracy to kill the U.S. ambassador are also charged with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction.
It says the ambassador was in the United States when the death plot was supposed to occur.
The suspects are identified as Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri.
According to a criminal complaint, Arbabsiar is a naturalized U.S. citizen who holds both a U.S. and an Iranian passport.
The case, called Operation Red Coalition, started in May when an Iranian-American from Corpus Christi, Texas, approached a DEA informant wanting a Mexican drug cartel to help with the assassination, a federal law enforcement source told CBS News.
Read more at CBS News.com
