Tehran has demanded that Washington officially apologize for accusing Iran’s intelligence service of plotting to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, Iran’s Press TV reported on Monday.
The note demanding the apologies was submitted to the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which has represented U.S. interests in Iran since the two countries broke off diplomatic relations in 1980.
Along with a public apology, Tehran demands “material and moral compensation for this groundless accusation,” Press TV reported, citing the note.
Earlier in the month, federal prosecutors in New York charged two Iranians with plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States.
One of the alleged plotters, Manssor Arbabsiar, was arrested at JFK Airport in New York on September 29. He is charged with agreeing to pay $1.5 million to Mexican drug traffickers to bomb a restaurant in Washington while Saudi Ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir dined there.
Arbabsiar allegedly made a down payment of $100,000 to the unnamed Mexican drug cartel member, who was actually a law enforcement informant, according to the charges.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said later that high-ranking members of the Quds Force, the elite special operations unit of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, not only knew about the plot, but took part in it. Tehran has denied the allegations.
