Analysts are questioning the credibility of the alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. in a CNN report, while the US takes action to further isolate Iran by taking charges against it to the UN.
U.S. officials claim they have uncovered a plot hatched by the Islamic Republic to hire a professional assassin to kill Adel Al-Jubeir.
CNN reports that analysts have challenged the credibility of the allegations based on five reasons.
Primarily they said the plot does not fit the Iranian style. The international branch of the Revolutionary Guards, the Quds Force, has in effect never been officially linked to any assassination plots on U.S. soil. If they have indeed been involved in foreign plots, it would appear that they “go through great lengths to cover their tracks.”
Therefore, “hiring an Iranian-American used-car salesman who, according to investigators, openly talked about his connections to the Iranian military and brazenly made a $100,000 wire transfer, doesn’t fit the Quds Force’s modus operandi,” CNN quotes analysts.
John Baer, a former CIA operative, remarks: “There are very few groups operationally better than Iran’s Quds Force. They know what they are doing, the only proxies they use are ones they’ve vetted. They don’t let their own citizens get involved."
The report goes on to add that Iran would have little to gain from the alleged assassination plot, which according to a former presidential advisor on Iran, “runs contrary to their entire national security strategy."
Thirdly, analysts maintain that Iran could have chosen much easier Saudi and American targets in its backyard in neighbouring Iraq, Afghanistan and Bahrain.
Analysts also say that Iran is not desperate for such adverse attention as it is already in the spotlight with its political and economic sway in the region and its pivotal role in major issues such as “the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the futures of Iraq and Afghanistan, the price of oil and nuclear energy.”
And finally, the CNN report questions the many holes in the alleged plot, indicating that U.S. officials have gone to great effort to emphasize that they cannot be certain that “the highest levels officials in Iran were involved” in the plot.
Hillary Man Leverett, an adviser on Iran in former President George W. Bush’s administration, was quoted by CNN saying: “This would be such a significant departure for the Iranian government to be involved in a plot like this, it really warrants our toughest questions and scrutiny."
