Plan to kill US envoy from EL is fake news, says Iran
Reports that Iran was involved in a plot to kill East Londonborn US ambassador to SA Lana Marks was nothing but fabricated news which will likely continue in the future.
This was how Iran ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson, Saeed Khatibzadeh reacted to a news story by US media outlet Politico, which was published on Sunday night.
The report alleged that the Iranian embassy in Pretoria was involved in a plot to kill Marks as retribution for the killing of army general Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated by a US drone strike in January.
The Politico report attributed the allegations to “US intelligence reports”.
Khatibzadeh said that while they would never forgive or forget the assassination of Soleimani, he stressed there was no truth to claims that there was a plot to kill Marks.
The 66-year-old businesswoman turned diplomat, who is US President Donald Trump’s friend, went to Stirling Primary and matriculated at Clarendon High in 1970.
The US government was contacted for comment but a woman at its Cape Town consulate, who did not want to identify herself, said: “OK, yeah, yeah we don’t have a comment. We don’t wanna speculate about that.”
She then referred the Dispatch to the US embassy in Pretoria but said “I don’t think they will comment”. The US embassy’s recorded telephone message said it was closed.
In a statement, Khatibzadeh blasted the US and Trump, accusing them of having “antiIran accusations”.
Khatibzadeh also called on “American officials to stop resorting to hackneyed and wornout methods for anti-Iran propaganda in the international arena”.
He described the allegations as baseless, likening them to “those made in the recent antiIran report in the US media as part of the Trump administration’s counterintelligence campaign against Iran .
“It was predictable that the US regime would resort to antiIran accusations and ”falsification ahead of the US presidential election, coupled with that [US] regime’s pressures to abuse the UN Security Council’s mechanisms with the purpose of intensifying pressure on the people of Iran,” he said.
Should Marks be killed in SA, that would likely cause tensions between Iran and SA, which have good working relations, were it proved the western Asian country was involved.
However, Khatibzadeh refuted the alleged assassination plot report against Marks. He said Iran had proved its commitment to international diplomatic principles and norms.
The US [and Trump] have “ignored the basic diplomatic principles and the US has become a rogue regime in the international arena in recent years”, he said.
These, Khatibzadeh said included the “masterminding and implementing of plots for assassination and military and intelligence interference, withdrawal from many international agreements, violating the territorial integrity of nations, and the cowardly assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, the honourable commander of the fight against terrorism”.
“However, these measures and news fabrication which will probably continue in the future, will undoubtedly get nowhere and will add to the long list of Washington’s defeats in the face of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Khatibzadeh said Iran would continue with legal action regarding the killing. “And [we] will neither forgive nor forget the act of terrorism.”
State Security Agency spokesperson Mava Scott, said the alleged assassination plot was receiving the “receiving the necessary attention” from the SA government.
“The agency is interacting with all relevant partners both in the country and abroad to ensure that no harm will be suffered by the US ambassador, including any other diplomatic officials inside the borders of our country,” Scott said.