The Reuters report said that when “the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on October 17 that Shakuri was a member of PMOI,” State Department spokeswoman Rhonda Shore said at the time that: “We note that these reports originate solely with Iranian state media sources, which have a documented history of fabricating news stories.”
Excerpts of the report by Reuters from Tehran, November 5, 2011:
“Iran has complained to the United Nations about a U.S. accusation it tried to assassinate a Saudi diplomat, saying one of the alleged plotters Washington calls an Iranian military official is really a member of an anti-Tehran rebel group.
Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Saturday the plot was part of a multi-pronged U.S. strategy to smear Tehran, a process he said would continue next week when the U.N. nuclear agency publishes a report western diplomats say will contain new evidence about Iran’s nuclear programme.
The complaint to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon turned the U.S. accusation that Tehran supports terrorism back onto Washington, Salehi said.
The semi-official Mehr news agency reported on October 17 that Shakuri was a member of the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI), based in Iraq and listed as a terrorist group by the United States…
The PMOI’s umbrella group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said the Iranian accusation was “preposterous.”
“By resorting to these lies, the clerical regime is trying to reduce its political and legal consequences in the regional and international arena,” the NCRI’s Mohammad Mohaddessin told Reuters in a statement.
When the Mehr article was reported by the New York Times, U.S. officials told the paper they were still sure Shakuri was a Quds Force officer.
“We note that these reports originate solely with Iranian state media sources, which have a documented history of fabricating news stories,” the Times quoted State Department spokeswoman Rhonda Shore as saying at the time.