WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs, released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Justice announced charges against two men in a plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the United States:
“The allegations in the criminal complaint are shocking. I would like to thank our law enforcement, intelligence agencies and the Mexican government for their efforts to foil the alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador to the United States. I support the Treasury Department’s sanctions on five individuals associated with this alleged plot.
“Such an attack could have resulted in scores of American casualties. This incident shows that the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ‘Qods’ force intends to continue extending its influence abroad. Through my oversight position on the Foreign Relations Committee, I have examined the efforts of the Iranian regime to support terrorism in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and across the region. This is a serious danger that continues to pose a threat to peace and stability. Iran should be held accountable for its action and we must remain vigilant in our efforts to ensure that such an attack does not take place on U.S. soil.”
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