U.S. charges two Iranians with assassination plot

U.S. officials break up an alleged plot by men they say are linked to the Iranian government - to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States.
Attorney General Eric Holder said Tehran would be held accountable.
SOUNDBITE: Attorney General Eric Holder
"The complaint alleges that this conspiracy was conceived, was sponsored and was directed from Iran and constitutes a flagrant violation of U.S. and international law, including a convention which explicitly protects diplomats from being harmed."
Officials identified the alleged plotters - both originally from Iran - as Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri.
Court documents identified Shakuri as a member of the Quds Force, a branch of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He is still at large.
Arbabsiar - a naturalized U.S. citizen - was arrested at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport in September. He allegedly confessed and gave U.S. authorities details about the Iranian government's alleged involvement.
SOUNDBITE: Attorney General Eric Holder
"The United States is committed to holding Iran responsible for its action. Arbabsiar and Shakuri are charged with conspiracy to murder a foreign official, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy to commit an act of international terrorism among other charges."
A spokesman for the Iranian mission to the UN rejected the allegations.
U.S. officials said there had also been discussions about other alleged plots - including attacking the Israeli and Saudi embassies in Washington - but - no charges were revealed on Tuesday.
Sarah Irwin, Reuters.