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U.S. dismisses Iran’s denial on direct contact over assassination plot

15 October 2011 00:14 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The U.S. State Department on Friday dismissed Iran’s denial on direct contact between the two countries over the alleged assassination plot on the Saudi ambassador in the U.S, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"I will again confirm that we did meet with the Iranians. It was two days ago," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

"They know that very well, and any efforts on their part to deny it speaks again to how truthful they are about any of these sorts of matters," she said.

Nuland said the U.S. has made it clear to Iran that the plot violated the U.S. and international law, and Iran will be held accountable.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Justice Department alleged that two men, Manssor Arbabsayar, a 56-year-old U.S. citizen holding both the Iranian and U.S. passports, and Gholam Shakuri, an Iranian citizen, were charged with sponsoring and promoting terrorist activities abroad, including a plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador to Washington Adel Al-Jubeir. Iranian authorities have dismissed the U.S. claim as fabrication.

On Thursday, Nuland said the U.S. has had " direct contact" with Iran over the issue. But Alireza Miryousofi, the press officer of Iran’s Representative Office to the United Nations, told Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency on Friday that "No direct talks have been held between the two countries" over the alleged plot.