Iran Denies Involvement in Plot to Kill Saudi Arabian Ambassador

TEHRAN – Iran on Tuesday rejected U.S. claims that Iran was involved in a plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Washington.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast called the claims a "prefabricated scenario" and a "ridiculous show."

"These old-fashioned behaviors are based on the long-standing hostile American-Zionist policies and are ridiculous show in line with scenarios to provoke division," the semiofficial Fars news agency quoted Mehmanparast as saying Tuesday.

The spokesman was reacting to charges by the U.S. Justice Department accusing agents of the Iranian government of involvement in a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States, with help from a suspected member of a Mexican drug cartel.

"Designers of such prefabricated scenarios seek to create divisions and help the Zionist regime get of isolation," Mehmanparast was quoted as saying.

Earlier, IRNA, the official Iranian news agency, called the accusations by the U.S. Justice Department as "America's new propaganda scenario" against Iran, without elaborating.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday the U.S. would hold Iran accountable. Two people, one of them a member of Iran's special operations unit known as the Quds Force, were charged in New York federal court.

Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old U.S. citizen who also holds an Iranian passport, was charged along with Gholam Shakuri, whom U.S. authorities said was a Quds Force member.