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Obama speaks with Saudi king on murder attempt on ambassador

13 October 2011 04:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with Saudi King Abdullah regarding the alleged assassination attempt on the Saudi ambassador to Washington, White House said on Wednesday, APA reports quoting news.xinhuanet.com website.

A White House statement said the two spoke about "the successful disruption of the Iranian-directed conspiracy" to assassinate the Saudi Arabian Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir in Washington.

The two leaders agreed that this plot is "a flagrant violation of fundamental international norms, ethics, and law," said the statement, adding that the two vowed to pursue "a strong and unified international response" that holds the perpetrators accountable for their actions.

Two men were charged by the U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday for their alleged participation in a plot to assassinate the Saudi envoy to the United States. The two suspects are Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen holding both Iranian and U. S. passports, and Iranian Gholam Shakuri.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi on Wednesday strongly rejected U.S. accusations, saying Washington will be compelled to apologize to Tehran for its "unfounded allegation" against Iran, and that "these devilish conspiracies" are something "our friends in the Persian Gulf region are familiar with."

U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday slapped sanctions on five individuals, including four senior officers from the Quds Force, an elite division of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps responsible for foreign operations. Many suspect that U.S. will seek more sanctions against Iran from the international community.