Bloomberg – Manssor Arbabsiar, an Iranian-American car salesman who admitted conspiring with members of the Iranian military to kill Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the U.S. by bombing a Washington restaurant, was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
U.S. District Judge John Keenan in Manhattan said today that any term less than the 25-year maximum wouldn’t reflect the seriousness of the crime. The bombing would have inflicted “mass casualties” had it occurred, the judge said.
Keenan noted that when Arbabsiar, 58, was informed by a codefendant that from 100 to 150 people would be in the restaurant at the time of the attack, including U.S. senators, he replied, “No problem,” and, “No big deal.”
“In a case like this, deterrence is of supreme import,” Keenan said. “Others who might have financial or political purposes in engaging in acts of violence against the United States or its interest must learn the lesson that such conduct will not be tolerated.”
Prosecutors in the office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan said Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri, who the U.S. said was a member of Iran’s Qods Force, hired a man who identified himself as a member of a Mexican drug cartel to kill Ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir. Arbabsiar also admitted agreeing to pay the man $1.5 million for the killing and arranged for down payments for the murder, the government said.
The man they approached to be their assassin was actually an undercover informant for the U.S., prosecutors said. The U.S. State Department has described the Qods Force as an arm of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
‘Priority’ Killing
Arbabsiar was recruited by his cousin, a high-ranking member of the Qods Force in Iran, prosecutors said. The plan to assassinate the ambassador was a “priority” of the group because of the number of other people who would be killed, the U.S. alleged.
Other Qods Force members in Iran helped to bankroll the plot, prosecutors said. The group, designated as a terrorist supporter by the U.S. Treasury Department, conducts covert operations outside of Iran, including terrorist attacks, assassinations and kidnappings, prosecutors allege.
Arbabsiar pleaded guilty in October to traveling in the commission of a murder-for-hire plot, conspiring to commit a murder for hire, and conspiring to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries.
He might have faced a life prison term had he been convicted after trial, Keenan told Arbabsiar during his plea. His lawyer, Sabrina Shroff, asked for a 10-year term.
