Iran Had ‘Credible Info’ about Saudi Assassination Plot, FM Says

TEHRAN– Iran’s foreign minister confirmed that Saudi officials close to Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman plotted to assassinate senior Iranian officials.

“Tehran had credible information on this,” Mohammad Javad Zarif told the New Arab’s Arabic-language service in an interview, which will be published in full on November 13, Tasnim News reported.

The minister was referring to a report published on Sunday in The New York Times that detailed a plan to hire private operatives to kill senior Iranian officials, including Major General Qassem Soleimani.

He further exemplified other atrocities by the Saudi government, including support for terrorism, attacking Yemen as well as kidnapping Lebanese Prime minister Sa’ad Hariri.

“All the world has opened its eyes to what Riyadh is doing such as bombing Yemen, detaining the prime minister of Lebanon and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” Zarif said.

The New York Times report revealed a March 2017 meeting in Riyadh that brought together businessmen that also “pitched a $2 billion plan to use private intelligence operatives to sabotage the Iranian economy.”

As the meeting came at a time that bin Salman was consolidating his power in the kingdom, the report concluded that planning for assassinations, like that of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, started “since the beginning of Prince Mohammad’s ascent.”

M.Wassouf