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Iranian Terror Suspect Had the Right Connections

Mansour Arbabsiar had Iranian military ties, business in Mexico

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 12, 2011 2:00 AM CDT

(Newser) – Iranians trying to recruit Mexican drug cartels to kill the Saudi ambassador? The terror plot US authorities say has been foiled sounds far-fetched, but it appears less so after a look at the man in the middle of it, the Washington Post finds. Mansour Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old Iranian American, had close ties to the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard unit accused of carrying out attacks abroad, and lived in Texas and frequently did business across the border in Mexico.

Investigators say Arbabsiar, a naturalized US citizen who ran an auto sales business in Corpus Christi, told his Iranian handlers that he had the right Mexican cartel connections to organize a hit on the ambassador. The man he thought was a member of the Zetas cartel, however, was actually a Drug Enforcement Agency informant. Court papers state that Arbabsiar told the informant that the potential for mass casualties should not be an obstacle to killing the ambassador.

This 2004 provided by the Williamson County Jail shows Mansour Arbabsiar. (AP Photo/Williamson County Jail via Corpus Christi Caller-Times)

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Iranian Terror Suspect Had the Right Connections

Mansour Arbabsiar had Iranian military ties, business in Mexico

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