TEHRAN: Iran complained in United Nations about US accusation to assassination of Saudi diplomat, indicating one of alleged plotters Washington calls an Iranian military officials is really a member of an anti-Tehran rebel group.
Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Saturday the plot was part of a multi-pronged US strategy to smear Tehran, a process he said would continue next week when the UN nuclear agency publishes a report western diplomats say will contain new evidence about Iran's nuclear programme.
The complaint to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon turned the US accusation that Tehran supports terrorism back onto Washington, Salehi said.
"This letter contains our complaint about the plots of the United States, reliable information that we have of the US involvement in those plots," he said in a news conference broadcast live on the English language channel Press TV.
On its website, Press TV reported the letter said a suspect who US prosecutors have identified as an Iranian military official is actually a member of the exiled Iranian rebel group Mujahideen Khalq Organisation (MKO).
One of two men charged with plotting to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington, 56-year-old Iranian-American Manssor Arbabsiar, pleaded not guilty at a court hearing in New York last month.
The second, Gholam Shakuri, is still at large and US officials say he is a member of the Quds Force, an arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, who approved the plan to hire Mexican gangsters to murder Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir.
The semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Oct. 17 that Shakuri was a member of the MKO, also known as the People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), based in Iraq and listed as a terrorist group by the United States.
Citing "informed sources", Mehr said Shakuri had travelled to Washington and to the MKO base at Camp Ashraf in Iraq.
Iranian officials did not initially comment on the report which said Interpol had discovered Shakuri's true identity, but Press TV reported on Saturday it was now in the letter delivered to Ban.
Washington is using what it says was a foiled plot to help bolster international support to tighten sanctions on Iran which it accuses of developing nuclear weapons and sponsoring terrorism, charges denied by Tehran.
Israeli and western media have increased speculation in recent days that Israel might launch a strike on Iran's nuclear sites. Some analysts say that, rather than any firm evidence military action is imminent, the chatter reflects efforts to increase diplomatic pressure on Tehran.
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