PressTV – 2011-10-19 00:46:17
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/205177.html
‘Saudi Envoy Plot Suspect Is MKO Man’
PressTV
(October 17, 2011) — Interpol has gained information about the second suspect in the alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States indicating that he is a key member of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO). A source told the Mehr news agency on Monday that Interpol has learned that Gholam-Hossein Shakouri, aka Ali Shakouri and Gholam Shakouri, the second suspect in the alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Washington, is one of the senior members of the MKO, which is an anti-Iranian terrorist group.
Shakouri has travelled to numerous countries with many fake identity documents, including forged Iranian passports, and he was last seen in Washington and at Camp Ashraf, where MKO members are based, the source added. One of the passports used by Shakouri was issued on November 30, 2006 in Washington with the number K10295631.
The MKO fled to Iraq in the 1980s, where it enjoyed the support of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and set up Camp Ashraf in the eastern province of Diyala, near the Iranian border. Over 3,000 MKO members are currently residing at the camp. In addition, the group has sent elements to Iran on spying and terrorist missions.
The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community and has committed numerous terrorist acts against both Iranians and Iraqis. Iran has repeatedly called on the Iraqi government to expel the group, but the US has been putting pressure on the Iraqi government to block the expulsion.
Earlier in the day, a senior Pakistani intelligence official said that the prime suspect in the alleged plot, Mansour Arbabsiar, who is also a cousin of Shakouri, had received forged identity documents from the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.
On October 11, the US Justice Department accused Iran of plotting to assassinate Saudi Arabian Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir, with help from a man suspected of being a member of a Mexican drug cartel. Tehran says the media hype created by Washington is an attempt to deflect international attention from the anti-corruption and anti-corporatism protests currently rocking the country.
Iran’s envoy to the UN, Mohammad Khazaei, has filed a complaint against the US for what he called the “evil plot.†Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has described the US accusation as an immature scenario and says US officials will ultimately be forced to apologize.
‘Mossad Gave Arbabsiar ID Papers’
PressTV
(October 17, 2011) — A senior Pakistani intelligence official says the man at the center of an alleged plot to kill a Saudi diplomat in Washington had received forged identity documents from the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad.
“The person who is accused in this case had received fake ID documents from Mossad three months ago,” the Pakistani Urdu-language Ummat daily quoted the Inter-Services Intelligence officer as saying on condition of anonymity. He also revealed that Mansour Arbabsiar, 56, “was due to conduct an operation named Foss Fling” for the Mossad.
On Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry once again summoned the Swiss envoy to protest US allegations of Tehran’s involvement in a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington. During the meeting, head of the North America Bureau of the Iranian Foreign Ministry said the US was obliged to collect information about the suspect in custody, and extradite him to Iran’s interest section in Washington based on international regulation.
Last Tuesday, the US Justice Department accused Iran of plotting to assassinate Saudi Arabian Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir, with help from a suspected member of a Mexican drug cartel. Tehran says the media hype created by Washington is an attempt to deflect international attention from the anti-corruption and anti-corporatism protests currently rocking the country.
‘Most Muslims Reject US Anti-Iran Claim’
PressTV
(October 16, 2011) — A new opinion poll shows that more than two-thirds of the Muslim world believes US accusations about Tehran’s involvement in a plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian envoy to Washington are fabricated.
According to the Sunday results of the online survey conducted by Doha-based Al-Jazeera news network, with a sampling of 11,556 people, over 65 percent of the respondents said they consider US claims against Iran unfounded and baseless. Some 35 percent of the surveyed individuals said they believed in the alleged Iranian plot to kill a Saudi diplomat in Washington.
Last Tuesday, the US Justice Department accused Iran of plotting to assassinate Saudi Arabian Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir, with help from a suspected member of a Mexican drug cartel.
Ban Refers US Anti-Iran Claims to UNSC
PressTV
(October 17, 2011) — The UN secretary-general says he has passed correspondence indicating US suspicion about Iran’s involvement in the alleged plot to kill the Saudi envoy to the world body’s Security Council. “I have received correspondence from the United States, Iran and also the Saudi government,” IRNA quoted Ban Ki-moon as saying on Monday.
Last Tuesday, the US Justice Department accused Iran of plotting to assassinate Saudi Arabian Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir, with help from a suspected member of a Mexican drug cartel.
Tehran says the media hype created by Washington is an attempt to deflect international attention from the anti-corruption and anti-corporatism protests currently rocking the country. This is while the UN chief’s hasty forwarding of the anti-Iran allegations to the Security Council raises questions about the world body’s indifference about the daily killing of innocent Afghans by US-led forces.
US drones are taking a daily toll in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen and other countries. Civilians have been the major victims of US drone attacks, carried out regularly against Pakistan’s North and the South Waziristan tribal regions under the pretext of targeting anti-American and pro-Taliban militants. The aerial attacks unmanned drones have resulted in several hundred deaths and strained Islamabad-Washington relations.
Somalia, on the other hand, is the sixth country where the US military has used remote-controlled drone aircrafts to launch targeted operations and killings. The US military has also used drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq, and Yemen.
In June, UN official Philip Alston said the US unsanctioned attacks may constitute war crimes. But the attacks have not yet received strong reaction from the UN Security Council. Closing his eyes to the above facts, Ban Ki-moon is taking action against Iran on the basis of a plot with vague details which never resulted in “any real action” and which was never proven in court.
Ban’s behavior has also given justice a new meaning at the Security Council. His conduct as the head of the UN implies that killing civilians in various countries is justified and merits no reaction from the international body and that if the US lodges a complaint about an unproven allegation it must result in the punishment of the accused country.
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