US officials peddle false intel in Iran assassination plot

Gareth Porter
Asia Times Online
October 18, 2011

Officials of the Barack Obama administration have aggressively leaked information supposedly based on classified intelligence in recent days to bolster its allegation that two higher-ranking officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) were involved in a plot to assassinate Saudi ambassador Adel al-Jubeir in Washington.

The media stories generated by the leaks helped divert press attention from the fact that there is no verifiable evidence of any official Iranian involvement in the alleged assassination plan, contrary to the broad claim being made by the administration.

But the information about the two Iranian officials leaked to NBC News, the Washington Post and Reuters was unambiguously false and misleading, as confirmed by official documents in one case and a former senior intelligence and counter-terrorism official in the other.

Read more

This article was posted: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 11:18 am

---

---

---

---