The FBI and DEA thwarted a terrorist plot that included the assassination of Adel Al-Jubeir, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the US, and bombings of the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday that the attack was planned by Iran and that the US “is committed to holding Iran accountable for its actions,” according to ABC News.
First and foremost, it is good to know that, despite the current stalemate between the executive and legislative branches, parts of our government are still doing their job. But what happens next?
Officials from President Barack Obama’s administration said they do not plan to take military action against Iran, and they do not have evidence to suggest Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had anything to do with the assassination plans.
Four of the five people the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on, however, are senior Quds Force officers, which is a special unit of Iran’s Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution and reports directly to Khamenei.
Ahmadinejad has accused the US of fabricating the plot.
Regardless of who is to blame, this is not encouraging for the US. Obviously, the FBI and DEA have a handle on this, as they knew of the plot since June, but it causes concern for what schemes might be hatched in the future. The way in which the potential assassin was found out is worrisome.
An Iranian-American man from Corpus Christi by the name of Manssor Arbabsiar approached a DEA informant he thought to be a member of a Mexican drug cartel for help with the assassination plot.
This speaks volumes about the handling of terrorism, but also our border control. Arbabsiar approached the DEA informant thinking he was a cartel member. What good reasons can there be behind that? Finding him to be the planned assassin was something of a fluke.
The man, Manssor Arbabsiar actually lived in a subdivision in Round Rock, near Austin.
Interesting. A foreign country plots to destroy US property and an ambassador, but nothing comes from the WH except a weakly worded scolding. Alright.. The timing for this is also curious, coming on the heels of AG Holder's subpoena on the Fast and Furious scandal. They've known about this plot since June but they decide to announce it now? Seems fishy to me.