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Feds Seek 25 Years in Murder Plot

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Prosecutors are seeking a 25-year prison sentence for a Texas man who admits he plotted to kill Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, saying he deserves the maximum in part because he didn't care if an explosive he sought to put in a Washington restaurant killed a lot of people.

In papers filed late Thursday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the government called the plot Manssor Arbabsiar planned to carry out with members of the Iranian military an "extremely serious crime."

Arbabsiar, 57, pleaded guilty in October to two conspiracy charges and a murder-for-hire count. The U.S. citizen has an Iranian passport and lived in Corpus Christi, Texas, working in real estate and automobile sales since moving to the United States in 1977. Sentencing is scheduled for Monday.

Arbabsiar, who was born in Iran, admitted he was directed by Iranian military officials to go to Mexico on multiple occasions from the spring to the fall of 2011 to arrange the assassination attempt, which never occurred.

The government said Arbabsiar recognized his planned attack on the ambassador at a Washington restaurant likely would've resulted in mass casualties.



The government said Arbabsiar also told law enforcement officials in his post-arrest statements that he had demanded at least $1 million for his involvement in the plot in addition to the $25,000 he was given by the Qods Force, a branch of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that in 2007 was designated by the U.S. Treasury Department as a supporter of the Taliban and terrorist organizations.

"This plot, had it been successfully completed, would not only have killed the ambassador and numerous innocent bystanders, but also severely impacted international and diplomatic relationships of the United States," prosecutors wrote.





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Topics : Law_CrimePolitics
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Locations : Corpus ChristiNew YorkTexas
People : Manssor Arbabsiar
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