Iran Says U.S. Plot Claim is 'Childish Game' to Divert Attention
U.S. accusations Iran was involved in an alleged plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington is a "childish game" meant to distract the U.S. public's attention, Iran's parliament speaker said Wednesday.
"The Americans have launched a stupid mischief. They want to divert attentions from the problems in the region," Ali Larijani said, according to Mehr news agency and other Iranian media.
"They made a lot of noise that they have arrested people who wanted to bomb the Saudi embassy... but even they themselves know that they have started a childish game.
"Maybe they are after creating an artificial crisis and creating problems among regional countries," said Larijani.
"We have normal relations with the Saudis. There is no reason for Iran to carry out these childish actions that they spoke of."
Other Iranian officials have called the allegations, made Tuesday by the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI, a "prefabricated scenario" and an "evil plot" meant to distract attention from U.S. domestic woes.
The U.S. authorities said two Iranians -- one also holding U.S. citizenship -- were part of a plot "conceived, sponsored and directed from Iran" and involving Iranian government factions to kill Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir in a bomb attack.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said "the United States is committed to holding Iran accountable for its actions" in the alleged plot.
The accusations have caused a spike in tensions between the United States and Iran, which have been foes for more than 30 years, ever since Islamic students took U.S. diplomats hostage in their embassy in Tehran after Iran's revolution.
The United States has already imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, on top of ones agreed by the United Nations, to pressure it to halt its nuclear energy program that Washington fears is being used to build atomic weapons, despite Tehran's repeated denial.
Source: Agence France Presse
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