Iran demands access to accused US plotter

[The Northerner]

Source: Reuters

TEHRAN, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Iran demanded consular access on Sunday to a man held in the United States over a suspected plot to kill the Saudi ambassador and vowed to respond robustly to any "inappropriate measure" by the West.

Manssor Arbabsiar, who holds U.S. and Iranian citizenship, was arrested in September over the plot which Tehran called a fabricated "comedy show" but which U.S. lawmakers said was "very real" and showed the need for tougher sanctions on Iran.

"Any inappropriate measure against Iran, whether political or security-related, will be strongly confronted by the Iranian nation," Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, accusing Washington of inventing the plot to divert attention from the "Occupy Wall Street" protests.

U.S. authorities announced the plot last Tuesday, saying Arbabsiar, a naturalised U.S. citizen, had paid a U.S. undercover agent posing as a Mexican drug cartel hit man to assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/16/iran-us-plot-idUSL5E7LG0LO20111016

[elfin]

1. Oops - a bit too late for their PR purposes

Caught off guard by the revelation that the supposed inept used car dealer was deep into their machinations.

That their "official" response has taken this long is telling of the fractured nature of their political structure.

[Robb]

2. That is an interesting response. And, as said below, it took a while.

Edited to add: I of course mean, "as said above." :D

[emilyg]

3. Why not give them access?

[SoapBox]

4. Yes...that is certainly an option...but I guess so is this...

*finger*

Just a thought.

[Little Tich]

5. Iran has the right to visit him, and the US cannot do anything about it.

The Vienna convention on consular relations states this quite clearly.

[msanthrope]

6. Um, no.

He's a US citizen. Iran will denied access to him.

[jberryhill]

7. Sorry, but not if he is a US citizen /nt

[Little Tich]

9. Technically, the VCCR doesn't deal with dual nationality,

and the position of the US Separtment of State is that dual nationals are not automatically entitled to notification of consular rights if arrested in the USA. However, other countries may not share the same view. So full consular rights are not automatic, but any consulate in the US retains at least the very minimum of being able to visit and communicate with their imprisoned nationals. I suppose this would be done via the Pakistani embassy which has an Iranian Interests section in Washington DC.

[jakeXT]

8. I doubt it's because of OWS, more likely about taking the attention of Fast & Furious related stuff

, if you believe Anthony Schaffer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzUs1KL0Ccc

[geek tragedy]

10. Enough of the rw talking points, please. nt

[geek tragedy]

11. Iran does not recognize dual-citizenship.

Since this guy is a naturalized citizen of the US, they are full of shit and their request will be denied.