Iranian foreign minister says U.S. plots to assassinate leaders while accusing others of kidnappings
Tehran, July 17 (RHC)-- The Iranian foreign minister says the U.S. government is involved in hatching assassination plots against the leaders of certain countries while accusing others of kidnapping operations to conceal its criminal acts.
Mohammad Javad Zarif made the comment in a tweet posted on Friday, which was accompanied by excerpts from the American media indicating the U.S. involvement in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise and plots for the ouster and targeted killing of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Zarif said the assassination plots against the aforementioned leaders are hatched by “US-affiliated gunmen” on American soil but the US administration “covers up its criminal ties” by accusing other countries of “a childishly conceived kidnapping operation."
“Put your house in order before throwing bricks at others,” he added. The top Iranian diplomat was referring to a recent US claim that the Iranian government plotted to kidnap a so-called American-Iranian journalist based in the United States.
Late Tuesday, the U.S. Justice Department leveled baseless accusations against four Iranian intelligence agents over planning to seize Masih Alinejad in her New York home and smuggle her to Iran. The FBI claimed that the Iranian agents researched possible ways to move her out of the United States, including hiring a "military-style" speedboat to whisk her from Manhattan and transfer by sea to Venezuela.
Tehran categorically rejected the allegations as "baseless and absurd" and likened them to "Hollywood scenarios."
The accusations come as the Pentagon was reported by The Washington Post on Thursday that suspects linked to the assassination of the Haitian president had received American military, raising fresh questions about Washington’s ties to Moise’s death.
}Suspects linked to the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse received American military training, according to the Pentagon. The Pentagon said that some of the former Colombian servicemen arrested after last week’s assassination had been trained by the US military.
The 53-year-old Haitian president was killed in an armed attack at his private residence in the capital Port-au-Prince by a group of gunmen who spoke Spanish and English. Police in Haiti said the assassination was carried out by a commando unit of 26 Colombian and two American mercenaries identified as James Solages and Joseph Vincent, both from Florida.
