Iran Says Saudi Plot Defendant Belongs to Exile Group
\nBy RICK GLADSTONE – October 18, 2011 – NYT<\/p>\n
Iran injected a new twist on Tuesday into the week-old American accusation of an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington, asserting that one of the defendants really belongs to an outlawed and exiled opposition group.<\/p>\n
The defendant, Gholam Shakuri, identified by the Justice Department as an operative of the elite Quds Force of Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards Corps, is actually a \u201ckey member\u201d of the Mujahedeen Khalq, Iran\u2019s Mehr News Agency reported.<\/p>\n
The agency did not explain the group\u2019s possible motive but left the implication that the plot was a bogus scheme meant to frame and ostracize Iran.<\/p>\n
It said Mr. Shakuri, who is at large, had last been seen in Washington and in Camp Ashraf, the group\u2019s enclave in Iraq. \u201cThe person in question has been traveling to different countries under the names of Ali Shakuri\/Gholam Shakuri\/Gholam-Hussein Shakuri by using fake passports including forged Iranian passports,\u201d Mehr said.<\/p>\n
American officials did not immediately comment on the Mehr report. Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, reiterated the American view in a daily press briefing in Washington that \u201cthis was a serious breach of international law and that Iran needs to be held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The opposition group itself dismissed the Mehr report as nonsense. Shahin Gobadi, a spokesman, said in an e-mailed response that \u201cthis is a well-known tactic that has been used by the mullahs in the past 30 years where they blame their crimes on their opposition for double gains.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group, also known as the National Council of Resistance of Iran, is regarded by Iran as a violent insurgent organization with a history of assassinations and sabotage aimed at overthrowing the Islamic government that took power in 1979. While the group claims to have renounced violence a decade ago, it is still classified as a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department, but not by Britain or the European Union. It maintains a headquarters in Paris. …more<\/a><\/p>\n