Iran’s foreign ministry has denounced the US for sentencing an Iranian-American to 25 years in prison over a plot to kill the Saudi envoy to Washington.
The reaction came a day after a New York court sentenced Iranian-born Manssor Arbabsiar, a former used car salesman from Texas, for plotting to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador by bombing a Washington restaurant.
Arbabsiar had pleaded guilty to two conspiracy charges and a murder-for-hire count, saying he was directed by Iranian military officials to go to Mexico on multiple occasions in 2011 to arrange the assassination, which never occurred.
Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency yesterday quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araghchi as saying the charges against Arbabsiar were “ridiculous” and more like something out of a movie. Araghchi claims Arbabsiar is “innocent.