Not guilty plea in plot to kill ambassador

The Iranian-American man charged with plotting to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States pleaded not guilty Monday at his arraignment in federal court in Manhattan.

Manssor Arbabsiar was indicted this past week on multiple conspiracy counts for allegedly trying to recruit a Mexican drug cartel to kill the ambassador under orders from a powerful military branch of the Iranian government.

Arbabsiar, 56, a naturalized U.S. citizen who lived in Texas before being charged, entered the plea during a brief courtroom appearance. Wearing a blue prison outfit and appearing somewhat disheveled, he did not speak except to say, "Not guilty."

Arbabsiar is due back in court on Dec. 21. A co-defendant, Gholam Shakuri, is still at large and believed to be in Iran. The government has said he is an official in the Qods Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

In the alleged plot, Arbabsiar is accused of offering $1.5 million for the killing of Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir by planting a bomb at a Washington restaurant he frequented. The Mexican cartel operative he thought he was dealing with was actually a U.S. informant, authorities said.