‘Mossad gave Arbabsiar ID papers’

A senior Pakistani intelligence official says the man at the center of an alleged plot to kill a Saudi diplomat in Washington had received forged identity documents from the israeli intelligence agency, Mossad.

“The person who is accused in this case had received fake ID documents from Mossad three months ago,” the Pakistani Urdu-language Ummat daily quoted the Inter-Services Intelligence officer as saying on condition of anonymity.

He also revealed that Mansour Arbabsiar, 56, “was due to conduct an operation named Foss Fling” for the Mossad.

On Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry once again summoned the Swiss envoy to protest US allegations of Tehran’s involvement in a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington.

During the meeting, head of the North America Bureau of the Iranian Foreign Ministry said the US was obliged to collect information about the suspect in custody, and extradite him to Iran’s interest section in Washington based on international regulation.

Last Tuesday, the US Justice Department accused Iran of plotting to assassinate Saudi Arabian Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir, with help from a suspected member of a Mexican drug cartel.

Tehran says the media hype created by Washington is an attempt to deflect international attention from the anti-corruption and anti-corporatism protests currently rocking the country.

Iran’s envoy to the UN, Mohammad Khazaei, has filed a complaint against the US for what he called the “evil plot.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has described the US accusation as an immature scenario and says US officials will ultimately be forced to apologize.