Iranian-American pleads guilty in plot to kill Saudi ambassador

Manssor Arbabsiar suffers from bipolar disorder, defense lawyers say

Saudi Ambassador to the US Adel Al-Jubeir (photo credit: image capture from YouTube video uploaded by saudiembassyusa)
Saudi Ambassador to the US Adel Al-Jubeir (photo credit: image capture from YouTube video uploaded by saudiembassyusa)

NEW YORK (AP) — A Texas man has pleaded guilty to charges that he plotted to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States.

Manssor Arbabsiar entered the plea Wednesday in US District Court in Manhattan. He’s a US citizen with an Iranian passport. A trial had been scheduled for January.

Arbabsiar had been charged in a $1.5 million plot to kill the ambassador at a restaurant by setting off explosives. President Barack Obama’s administration has accused agents of the Iranian government of being involved in the plot.

The press attache at Iran’s mission to the United Nations has called the accusation “baseless.”

Defense lawyers say Arbabsiar suffers from bipolar disorder.

Arbabsiar was arrested Sept. 29, 2011, at Kennedy International Airport in a plot to kill the ambassador, Adel Al-Jubeir.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

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