(IPT) — Despite repeated denials of Iran’s involvement in a recent plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to in Washington, the Iranian foreign minister admitted his country’s involvement on Wednesday, Al Arabiya news reported.
An Iranian source told the Saudi-owned news agency that Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi recently met with Mohammed Nahavandian, former assistant at the National Security Council and the current president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In the meeting, Salehi allegedly disclosed the involvement of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force in the plot.
“This is true. The plot was about to be carried out. It is not a figment of the American authorities’ imagination,” the source quoted Salehi as saying.
The source is close to Gholam Hussein Elham, former spokesman of the Iranian government and a current dissident of the regime in Tehran.
Manssor Arbabsiar, an Iranian-American car salesman living in Texas, and Gholam Shakuri, accused of being an Iran-based member of the Revolutionary Guard Quds Force, were indicted for their involvement in the plot in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan Oct. 20. Arbabsiar pleaded not guilty to the charges last week.