Iran FM confirms Riyadh plot to assassinate senior Iranians

Iran's foreign minister has confirmed that Saudi officials close to the crown prince plotted to assassinate senior Iranian officials.

MENA

1 min read

The New Arab

12 November, 2018

A report published on Sunday detailed a plan to hire operatives to kill Iranians [Getty]

Iran's foreign minister has confirmed that Saudi officials close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman plotted to assassinate senior Iranian officials.

Mohammed Javad Zarif made the exclusive comments to The New Arab's Arabic-language service in an interview, which will be published in full tomorrow (November 13).

"Tehran had credible information on this," Zarif said, referring to a report published on Sunday in The New York Times that detailed a plan to hire private operatives to kill "Iranian enemies of Saudi Arabia".

Among the targets was notorious Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, according to the US newspaper.

"All the world has opened its eyes to what Riyadh is doing such as blockading Qatar, bombing Yemen, detaining the prime minister of Lebanon and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi," Zarif said.

Zarif added that after the kingdom warned it would take the war inside Iran, the country has witnessed an increase in terrorist attacks such as the June 2017 dual assault on Iran's parliament and the shrine of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

See the full interview here.