WASHINGTON / NEW YORK - The United States accused Iran on Tuesday of backing a plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington, a charge Teheran denied and called an "evil plot" by Washington.

US authorities said they had broken up a plot by two men linked to Iran's security agencies to assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir. One was arrested last month while the other was believed to be in Iran.

US President Barack Obama called the plot a "flagrant violation of US and international law", and Saudi Arabia called it "despicable" and saying it violated "the principles of humanity".

"The burden of proof is overwhelming ... and clearly shows official Iranian responsibility for this," Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal, former chief of Saudi intelligence, said in London.

The US said Teheran must be held accountable and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a Reuters interview, said she hoped that countries that have hesitated to enforce existing sanctions on Iran would now "go the extra mile".

The US State Department late on Tuesday issued a three-month worldwide travel alert for US citizens, warning of the potential for anti-US action, including within the country.

At a news conference, FBI Director Robert Mueller said the convoluted plot, involving monitored international calls, Mexican drug money and an attempt to blow up the ambassador in a Washington restaurant, could have been straight from a Hollywood movie.

US Attorney General Eric Holder alleged that the plot was the work of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the guardian of Iran's 32-year-old revolution, and the Quds Force, its covert, operational arm.

The primary evidence linking the Iranian government to the planned attempt on al-Jubeir's life are the words of one of the alleged plotters, who told US law enforcement agents after his arrest that he had been recruited and directed by men he understood were senior Quds Force officials.

US officials identified the two alleged plotters as Gholam Shakuri, who is a member of the Quds Force, and Manssor Arbabsiar, a naturalized US citizen who holds an Iranian passport.

Officials said that the Saudi Ambassador Al-Jubeir, who is close to King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz and has been in his post since 2007, was never in danger.

Rejecting the allegations in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations expressed outrage and complained of "warmongering" by the US.

"I am writing to you to express our outrage regarding the allegations leveled by the United States officials against the Islamic Republic of Iran on the involvement of my country in an assassination plot targeting a foreign diplomat in Washington," Iranian UN Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee said in the letter.

"The US allegation is, obviously, a politically motivated move and a showcase of its long-standing animosity toward the Iranian nation," he said, reiterating that Teheran "categorically and in the strongest terms condemns this shameful allegation".

Reuters-AFP-China Daily

(China Daily 10/13/2011 page11)