Manssor Arbabsiar, one of two men accused in the plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, pleaded not guilty Monday in federal court. Arbabsiar was arrested on the suspicion that he conspired with Gholam Shakuri in an allegedly Iranian plot to hire hit men from a Mexican drug cartel to assassinate the Saudi ambassador. The plot would have involved a bomb in a restaurant, and likely would have sustained many other casualties.
Judge John Keenan scheduled the next court date for December 21, giving the defense time to study the documents of the case. Shakuri, allegedly an Iran-based member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, currently remains at large. Iran has denied involvement in the plot.
