Posted on 10/11/2011 2:15:50 PM PDT by PapaBear3625
Sunni or Shiaa?
Governments now use false flags as the standard MO to divert the attention of the little lambs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag
Arbabsiar’s arrest came during a sting operation by the FBI and the US Drug Enforcement Administration. A holder of both US and Iranian passports, he is accused of being ready to pay $1.5 million for the murder of the Saudi ambassador. For the hit he allegedly turned to members of the Mexican drug cartel, who in fact were informants for the FBI.
Why is it always the FBI suggesting all these things to “Terrorists.” I suppose it is that they do not have enough real ones.
Not surprisingly, MSNBC’s Madcow Maddow seemed to try to connect bankers to the plot.
Guess we'll just have to wait for the Emails to be subpoenaed.
(It will be interesting to see how the Saudi's and other neighbors react.)
"What is flat and glows red?"
NO RESPONSE
"Teheran on Inauguration Day."
This time, they know that all they have to worry about is some hand wringing and harsh language ... maybe.
“Since it involved a planned attack on the Saudi and Israeli embasies, the U.S. could simply stand back and allow those entities to take care of their business with Iran. Take off the shakles that is preventing them from defending their land.
It was an act of war - but more specifically against those countries.”
I agree. America will never do anything against Iran’s insane Islamofascist serial killers posing as leaders.
Since their take over of our embassy under the woosey Carter, we have done nothing against these serial killers of Americans. Basically every act of violence committed by Islamofascists against innocent Americans around the world, have been planned/controlled/financed and sanctioned by the insane serial killers in charge of Iran.
The Iranians must have some really bad black mail stuff on America, because they have acted/killed innocents with no problem/recourse during Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clintoon, Bush II and of course Herr Obozo.
This sad state of bs reminds of us leaving the Castros alone in Cuba with no real action like taking them out.
Until Iran’s serial killer leaders are taken out by the Saudis and Israelis, nothing will be done to them.
Forum.INTERNET-HAGANAH.com: "Reports of Facebook Being Blocked Are Overblown" (SNIPPET: "Regime supporters don't seem to have any problem accessing their accounts. For example, the Qods Force updated their Wall repeatedly on 12 October.") (October 16, 2011)
THE MEIR AMIT INTELLIGENCE AND TERRORISM INFORMATION CENTER: "SPOTLIGHT ON IRAN Week of October 5-11, 2011" -Editor Raz Zimmt (October 11, 2011)
NOTE The following text is a quote:
www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2011/manhattan-u.s.-attorney-announces-the-indictment-of-two-men-in-an-alleged-plot-to-assassinate-saudi-arabian-ambassador-to-the-united-states
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces the Indictment of Two Men in an Alleged Plot to Assassinate Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States
U.S. Attorney’s Office
October 20, 2011
Southern District of New York
PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that a five-count criminal indictment has been filed today in the case of Manssor Arbabsiar, et al. The charges in the indictment mirror those that were alleged in the criminal complaint that was filed on October 11, 2011. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan of the Southern District of New York. An arraignment for Arbabsiar has not been scheduled as of yet. His co-defendant, Gholam Shakuri, remains at large.
This case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Glen Kopp and Edward Kim, of the Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, with assistance from the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
“Man Accused of Plot on Envoy Wasn’t Mentally Ill, U.S. Argues”
By BENJAMIN WEISER
Published: October 3, 2012
SNIPPET: “An Iranian-American man charged in a plot to assassinate a Saudi diplomat did not suffer from any mental illness that would have precluded him from knowingly consenting to questioning without a lawyer, federal prosecutors said in court papers Wednesday.”
http://www.investigativeproject.org/3774/man-admits-assistance-from-iranian-military-in
For The Record - The IPT Blog
“Man Admits Assistance from Iranian Military in Bomb Plot”
by Abha Shankar • Oct 17, 2012 at 3:39 pm
SNIPPET: “A Texas car salesman man accused in a bomb plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States pleaded guilty Wednesday.
Manssor Arbabsiar was charged last October in a plot targeting Saudi ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir as well as other targets including the Israeli embassy. The indictment also charges Gholam Shukri, a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Quds Force, which is accused of sanctioning the plot.
The Quds Force has helped wage several terror attacks worldwide in support of the Iranian regime’s broader mission to export its Islamic revolution.
According to the plea agreement, Arbabsiar traveled several times to Mexico between May and September 2011 under direction from senior Quds Force officials in Iran. In Mexico, Arbabsiar met with a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) informant posing as “a representative of a sophisticated and violent Latin American drug cartel that had access to military-grade weaponry.””
NOTE The following text is a quote:
www.fbi.gov/houston/press-releases/2012/man-pleads-guilty-in-new-york-to-conspiring-with-iranian-military-officials-to-assassinate-saudi-arabian-ambassador-to-the-united-states
Man Pleads Guilty in New York to Conspiring with Iranian Military Officials to Assassinate Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States
U.S. Department of Justice
October 17, 2012
WASHINGTON—Manssor Arbabsiar, aka Mansour Arbabsiar, pleaded guilty today in federal court in the Southern District of New York to participating in a plot to murder the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States while the Ambassador was in the United States.
Arbabsiar, a 58-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen holding both Iranian and U.S. passports, was arrested on September 29, 2011, at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. He pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan.
The guilty plea was announced by Attorney General Eric Holder; Michele M. Leonhart, Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); Lisa Monaco, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York; and Stephen L. Morris, FBI Houston Special Agent in Charge.
Arbabsiar pleaded guilty to a superseding information that charges him with three counts. Count one charges Arbabsiar with traveling in foreign commerce and using interstate and foreign commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire. Count two charges him with conspiring to do so. Count three charges Arbabsiar with conspiring to commit an offense against the United States, namely, an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries. He faces a maximum potential sentence of 25 years in prison (10 years on counts one and two, and five years on count three). Arbabsiar is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Keenan on January 23, 2013, at 11:30 a.m.
In connection with his guilty plea, Arbabsiar admitted that, from the spring of 2011 to the fall of 2011, he conspired with officials in the Iranian military who were based in Iran to cause the assassination of the Saudi Arabian ambassador while the ambassador was in the United States. Arbabsiar acknowledged that at the direction of these co-conspirators, he traveled to Mexico on several occasions during 2011 in order to arrange the assassination of the ambassador. Arbabsiar admitted that, with his co-conspirators’ approval, he had arranged to hire a DEA confidential source (CS-1), who claimed to be a representative of a drug cartel, and CS-1’s criminal associates, to murder the ambassador. Arbabsiar further admitted that he agreed to pay $1.5 million to CS-1 and had discussed with CS-1 a plan to murder the ambassador at a restaurant in Washington, D.C.—a plan that was approved by Arbabsiar’s co-conspirators. Arbabsiar then arranged for a $100,000 down payment, in two installments, to be wired to CS-1.
As noted in the complaint and indictment previously filed in Manhattan federal court, the Qods Force is a branch of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Qods Force conducts sensitive covert operations abroad, including terrorist attacks, assassinations, and kidnappings, and is believed to have sponsored attacks against Coalition Forces in Iraq. In October 2007, the U.S. Treasury Department designated the Qods Force under Executive Order 13224 for providing material support to the Taliban and other terrorist organizations.
“A little more than a year after his arrest, Manssor Arbabsiar has admitted to his role in a deadly plot approved by members of the Iranian military to assassinate a sitting foreign ambassador on U.S. soil,” said Attorney General Holder. “Today’s plea and the disruption of this plot should serve as a reminder of the exceptional efforts of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies in protecting America against terrorist attacks and in holding accountable those who plan such actions.”
“The dangerous connection between drug trafficking and terrorism cannot be overstated, and this case is yet another example of DEA’s unique role in identifying potentially deadly networks that wish to harm innocent Americans and our allies worldwide,” said DEA Administrator Leonhart. “Using DEA’s elaborate and sophisticated investigative expertise to infiltrate violent drug and terror organizations globally, we successfully identified this threat and worked closely with the FBI to prevent a potentially deadly outcome.”
“Thanks to the collaborative efforts of many U.S. law enforcement and intelligence professionals, this international assassination plot hatched in Iran was thwarted before anyone was harmed and a key conspirator has pleaded guilty. This case underscores the evolving threat environment we face and the need for continued vigilance at home and abroad,” said Assistant Attorney General Monaco.
U.S. Attorney Bharara stated, “As was originally charged, and as Arbabsiar has now admitted, he was the extended murderous hand of his co-conspirators, officials of the Iranian military based in Iran, who plotted to kill the Saudi ambassador in the United States and were willing to kill as many bystanders as necessary to do so. Arbabsiar traveled to and from the United States, Mexico, and Iran and was in telephone contact with his Iranian confederates while he brokered an audacious plot. The audacity of the plot should not cause doubt but rather vigilance regarding others like Arbabsiar, who are enlisted as the violent emissaries of plotting foreign officials. This office will continue to pursue the co-conspirators in this plot and others in Iran or elsewhere who try to export murder. Thanks to the great work of the FBI, DEA, and the prosecutors in this office, Mr. Arbabsiar must now answer for his conduct.”
“Today’s guilty plea entered by Mr. Arababsiar is the culmination of exceptional intelligence and law enforcement efforts,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Morris. “I would like to thank the investigators, analysts and task force officers at the FBI and DEA in Houston, our Legal Attaché Office in Mexico City, and all partners in the intelligence community who worked tirelessly on this case. Of special note, I’d like to recognize the exemplary leadership from Department of Justice’s National Security Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.”
According to the complaint and indictment filed in Manhattan federal court, as well as the information to which Arbabsiar pleaded:
Arbabsiar met with CS-1 in Mexico on multiple occasions between May 2011 and July 2011. During the course of these meetings, Arbabsiar inquired as to CS-1’s knowledge with respect to explosives and explained that he was interested in, among other things, attacking an embassy of Saudi Arabia and the murder of the Saudi ambassador to the United States. In a July 14, 2011, meeting in Mexico, CS-1 told Arbabsiar that he would need to use at least four men to carry out the ambassador’s murder and that his price for carrying out the murder was $1.5 million. Arbabsiar agreed and stated that the murder of the ambassador should be handled first, before the execution of other attacks that Arbabsiar had discussed with CS-1. Arbabsiar also indicated that he and his associates had $100,000 in Iran to pay CS-1 as a first payment toward the assassination.
During the same meeting, Arbabsiar also described to CS-1 his cousin in Iran, who he said had requested that Arbabsiar find someone to carry out the ambassador’s assassination. Arbabsiar indicated that his cousin was a “big general” in the Iranian military; that he focuses on matters outside of Iran; and that he had taken certain unspecified actions related to a bombing in Iraq.
In a July 17, 2011 meeting in Mexico, CS-1 noted to Arbabsiar that one of his workers had already traveled to Washington, D.C., to surveil the ambassador. CS-1 also raised the possibility of innocent bystander casualties. Arbabsiar made it clear that the assassination needed to go forward, despite mass casualties, telling CS-1, “They want that guy [the ambassador] done [killed], if the hundred go with him, f**k ‘em.” CS-1 and Arbabsiar discussed bombing a restaurant in the United States that the ambassador frequented. When CS-1 noted that others could be killed in the attack, including U.S. senators who dine at the restaurant, Arbabsiar dismissed these concerns as “no big deal.”
On August 1 and August 9, 2011, Arbabsiar caused two overseas wire transfers totaling approximately $100,000 to be sent to an FBI undercover account as a down payment for CS-1 to carry out the assassination. Later, Arbabsiar explained to CS-1 that he would provide the remainder of the $1.5 million after the assassination. On September 20, 2011, CS-1 told Arbabsiar that the operation was ready and requested that Arbabsiar either pay one-half the agreed upon price ($1.5 million) for the murder or that Arbabsiar personally travel to Mexico as collateral for the final payment of the fee. Arbabsiar agreed to travel to Mexico to guarantee final payment for the murder.
On September 28, 2011, Arbabsiar flew to Mexico. Arbabsiar was refused entry into Mexico and was placed on a return flight destined for his last point of departure. On September 29, 2011, Arbabsiar was arrested by federal agents during a flight layover at JFK International Airport in New York. Several hours after his arrest, Arbabsiar was advised of his Miranda rights and he agreed to waive those rights and speak with law enforcement agents. During a series of Mirandized interviews, Arbabsiar confessed to his participation in the murder plot.
Arbabsiar also admitted to agents that, in connection with this plot, he was recruited, funded, and directed by men he understood to be senior officials in Iran’s Qods Force. He said these Iranian officials were aware of and approved of the use of CS-1 in connection with the plot; as well as payments to CS-1; the means by which the ambassador would be killed in the United States and the casualties that would likely result.
Arbabsiar also told agents that his cousin, who he had long understood to be a senior member of the Qods Force, had approached him in the early spring of 2011 about recruiting narco-traffickers to kidnap the ambassador. Arbabsiar told agents that he then met with CS-1 in Mexico and discussed assassinating the ambassador. Arbabsiar said that, afterwards, he met several times in Iran with Gholam Shakuri, aka “Ali Gholam Shakuri,” a co-conspirator and Iran-based member of the Qods Force, and another senior Qods Force official, where Arbabsiar explained that the plan was to blow up a restaurant in the United States frequented by the ambassador and that numerous bystanders would be killed. The plan was approved by these officials.
In October 2011, after his arrest, Arbabsiar made phone calls at the direction of law enforcement to Shakuri in Iran that were monitored. During these phone calls, Shakuri confirmed that Arbabsiar should move forward with the plot to murder the ambassador and that he should accomplish the task as quickly as possible, stating on October 5, 2011, “Just do it quickly; it’s late.” Shakuri also told Arbabsiar that he would consult with his superiors about whether they would be willing to pay CS-1 additional money. Shakuri, who was also charged in the plot, remains at large. The charges against Shakuri are merely accusations, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
This investigation is being conducted by the FBI Houston Division, the DEA Houston Division, and the FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force. The prosecution is being handled by the Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, specifically Assistant U.S. Attorneys Glen Kopp, Edward Kim and Stephen Ritchin. The Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division and the Office of International Affairs of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division provided substantial assistance. The government of Mexico is also recognized for its cooperation in this matter.
A Look at Iran
http://www.truthusa.com/IRAN.html
http://page4free.biz/20130531/arbab/USA_v_Arbabsiar-information.pdf
http://page4free.biz/20130531/arbab/USA_v_Arbabsiar-USA_sentencing_memo.pdf
###
###
http://forum.internet-haganah.com/showthread.php?1281-Manssor-Arbabsiar-sentenced-to-25-years
“Manssor Arbabsiar sentenced to 25 years”
SNIPPET: “Arbabsiar is the one-time used car dealer who was recruited by his cousin in the IRGC’s Qods Force to hire criminals to kidnap the Saudi ambassador to the US. Here is the Information and the USA’s Sentencing Memorandum.”
###
###
Previously...
http://forum.internet-haganah.com/showthread.php?216
“IRGC bombing/assassination plot busted by DEA/FBI”
(October 11, 2011)
#
http://forum.internet-haganah.com/showthread.php?443
“Something about the IRGC and used car dealers”
(December 18, 2011)
#
http://forum.internet-haganah.com/showthread.php?1013
“Manssor Arbabsiar pleads guilty in IRGC plot”
(October 22, 2012)
Related Thread with additional info:
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2822177/posts
DEA Raids Car Dealership with Alleged Ties to Terrorist Group Hezbollah
Fox News ^ | 12/18/11 | Fox News
Posted on December 18, 2011 7:59:04 PM PST by Nachum
Drug Enforcement Administration agents have raided an Oklahoma car dealership that the government suspects may be one of about 30 such businesses in the U.S. involved in funding the terrorist group Hezbollah.
DEA agents say the car lot of Ace Auto Leasing in Tulsa is part of a huge network that is selling cars and drugs — and then using the money to support terrorism against the U.S., myfoxphoenix.com reports.
During Friday’s raid, agents could be seen carryout out filing cabinets and other items. They also questioned employees and took inventory.
“They’re making big time money and it’s going right into weapons acquisition, terrorist training, recruiting, corruption. Things needed to carry out terrorist attacks across the world,” said Rusty Payne of the DEA. “Some of that money is flowing back to the United States, back to these used car companies, to purchase more used cars to ship them to West Africa to sell those at a profit and then mix those used car proceeds in with the drug dollars.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
http://www.investigativeproject.org/4036/man-accused-in-bomb-plot-to-assassinate-saudi
For The Record - The IPT Blog
“Man Accused in Bomb Plot to Assassinate Saudi Ambassador Gets 25 Years”
by Abha Shankar • May 31, 2013 at 5:57 pm
SNIPPET: “A Texas car salesman was sentenced to 25 years in prison Thursday for his involvement in a bomb plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States. The plot was sanctioned by senior members of Iran’s deadly Revolutionary Guard Quds Force.
The Quds Force has helped wage several terror attacks worldwide in support of its broader mission to export Iran’s Islamic Revolution.
Manssor Arbabsiar, a 58-year-old naturalized American citizen, had earlier confessed to his involvement in a plot targeting Saudi ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir as well as other targets, including the Israeli embassy. Arbabsiar, who held both Iranian and U.S. passports, was arrested on September 29, 2011 at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. He and a member of the Quds Force, Gholam Shakuri, were subsequently charged in connection with the plot. Shakuri continues to remain at large.”
NOTE The following text is a quote:
www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2013/manssor-arbabsiar-sentenced-in-new-york-city-federal-court-to-25-years-in-prison-for-conspiring-with-iranian-military-officials-to-assassinate-the-saudi-arabian-ambassador-to-the-united-states
Manssor Arbabsiar Sentenced in New York City Federal Court to 25 Years in Prison for Conspiring with Iranian Military Officials to Assassinate the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States
U.S. Department of Justice
May 30, 2013
WASHINGTON—Manssor Arbabsiar, aka “Mansour Arbabsiar,” was sentenced today in New York City federal court to 25 years in prison for participating in a plot to murder the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S. while the ambassador was in the U.S., announced John Carlin, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division at the Department of Justice and Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Arbabsiar, a 58 year-old naturalized U.S. citizen holding both Iranian and U.S. passports, was arrested on September 29, 2011, at John F. Kennedy International Airport. He pleaded guilty on October 17, 2012, to one count of murder-for-hire, one count of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and one count of conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries before U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan, who also imposed today’s sentence.
“Thanks to the collaborative efforts of many U.S. law enforcement and intelligence professionals, Manssor Arbabsiar is today being held accountable for his role in this assassination plot,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin. “I applaud all those responsible for ensuring that Arbabsiar and his co-conspirators in Iran’s Qods Force failed in their efforts. Today’s sentencing serves as a reminder of the evolving threat environment we face.”
“Manssor Arbabsiar was an enemy among us—the key conduit for, and facilitator of, a nefarious international plot concocted by members of the Iranian military to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States and as many innocent bystanders as necessary to get the job done,” said U.S. Attorney Bharara. “And but for the vigilance of our FBI and DEA partners, his plot, and the unspeakable harm it would have caused, may well have come to fruition, which is exactly why our commitment to using every resource we have to root out, prosecute, and punish people like Arbabsiar, who act as emissaries for our enemies, remains unflagging.”
According to the complaint and indictment filed in federal court:
From the spring of 2011 to October 2011, Arbabsiar and his Iran-based co-conspirators, including members of Iran’s Qods Force, plotted the murder of the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S. In furtherance of this conspiracy, Arbabsiar met on a number of occasions in Mexico with a DEA confidential source (CS-1) who posed as an associate of a violent international drug trafficking cartel. Arbabsiar arranged to hire CS-1 and CS-1’s purported accomplices to murder the ambassador with the awareness and approval of his Iran-based co-conspirators. Arbabsiar wired approximately $100,000 to a bank account in the U.S. as a down payment to CS-1 for the anticipated killing of the ambassador, which was to take place in the U.S, also with the approval of his co-conspirators.
The Qods Force is a branch of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which conducts sensitive covert operations abroad, including terrorist attacks, assassinations, and kidnappings, and is believed to have sponsored attacks against Coalition Forces in Iraq. In October 2007, the U.S. Treasury Department designated the Qods Force as a terrorist supporter for providing material support to the Taliban and other terrorist organizations.
Arbabsiar met with CS-1 in Mexico on several occasions between May 2011 and July 2011. During the course of these meetings, he inquired as to CS-1’s knowledge with respect to explosives and explained that he was interested in, among other things, attacking an embassy of Saudi Arabia and the murder of the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. In a July 14, 2011 meeting in Mexico, CS-1 told Arbabsiar that he would need to use at least four men to carry out the ambassador’s murder and that his price for doing so was $1.5 million. Arbabsiar agreed and stated that the murder of the ambassador should be handled first, before the execution of other attacks that he had discussed with CS-1. Arbabsiar also indicated that he and his associates had $100,000 in Iran to give CS-1 as a first payment toward the assassination.
During the same meeting, Arbabsiar also described to CS-1 his cousin in Iran, whom he said had requested that Arbabsiar find someone to carry out the ambassador’s assassination. Arbabsiar indicated that his cousin was a “big general” in the Iranian military, that he focuses on matters outside of Iran, and that he had taken certain unspecified actions related to a bombing in Iraq.
In a July 17, 2011, meeting in Mexico, CS-1 noted to Arbabsiar that one of his workers had already traveled to Washington, D.C., to surveil the ambassador. CS-1 also raised the possibility of innocent bystander casualties. Arbabsiar made it clear that the assassination needed to go forward, despite mass casualties, telling CS-1, “They want that guy [the ambassador] done [killed], if the hundred go with him, f— ‘em.” CS-1 and Arbabsiar discussed bombing a restaurant in the U.S. that the ambassador frequented. When CS-1 noted that others could be killed in the attack, including U.S. senators who dine at the restaurant, Arbabsiar dismissed these concerns as “no big deal.”
On August 1 and August 9, 2011, Arbabsiar caused two overseas wire transfers totaling approximately $100,000 to be sent to an FBI undercover account as a down payment for CS-1 to carry out the assassination. Later, Arbabsiar explained to CS-1 that he would provide the remainder of the $1.5 million after the assassination. On September 20, 2011, CS-1 told Arbabsiar that the operation was ready and requested that he either pay one half the agreed upon price ($1.5 million) for the murder or that Arbabsiar personally travel to Mexico as collateral for the final payment of the fee. Arbabsiar agreed to travel to Mexico to guarantee final payment for the murder.
On September 28, 2011, Arbabsiar flew to Mexico, and he was refused entry into the country and placed on a return flight destined for his last point of departure. The following day, Arbabsiar was arrested by federal agents during a flight layover at JFK International Airport in New York. Several hours after his arrest, Arbabsiar was advised of his Miranda rights, and he agreed to waive those rights and speak with law enforcement agents. During a series of Mirandized interviews, Arbabsiar confessed to his participation in the murder plot.
In addition, Arbabsiar admitted to agents that, in connection with this plot, he was recruited, funded, and directed by men he understood to be senior officials in Iran’s Qods Force. He said these Iranian officials were aware of, and approved of, the use of CS-1 in connection with the plot, as well as payments to CS-1, the means by which the ambassador would be killed in the U.S., and the casualties that would likely result.
Arbabsiar also told agents that his cousin, whom he had long understood to be a senior member of the Qods Force, had approached him in the early spring of 2011 about recruiting narco-traffickers to kidnap the ambassador. He told agents that he then met with CS-1 in Mexico and discussed assassinating the ambassador. Arbabsiar said that afterwards, he met several times in Iran with Gholam Shakuri, aka “Ali Gholam Shakuri,” a co-conspirator and Iran-based member of the Qods Force, and another senior Qods Force official, where Arbabsiar explained that the plan was to blow up a restaurant in the U.S. frequented by the ambassador and that numerous bystanders would be killed. According to Arbabsiar, the plan was approved by these officials.
In October 2011, after his arrest, Arbabsiar made phone calls at the direction of law enforcement to Shakuri in Iran that were monitored. During these calls, Shakuri confirmed that Arbabsiar should move forward with the plot to murder the ambassador and that he should accomplish the task as quickly as possible, stating on October 5, 2011, “[j]ust do it quickly, it’s late....” Shakuri also told Arbabsiar that he would consult with his superiors about whether they would be willing to pay CS-1 additional money. Shakuri, who was also charged in the plot, remains at large.
* * *
In addition to the prison term, Arbabsiar was ordered to pay forfeiture in the amount of $125,000.
This case was investigated by the FBI Houston Division, the DEA Houston Division, and the FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, with the assistance of the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, its National Security Division, and the Department of State. The Government of Mexico also cooperated with the investigation.
This case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Glen Kopp, Edward Kim, and Stephen Ritchin are in charge of the prosecution with assistance from the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
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