Intelligence panels: US lawmakers say Iran plot ‘real’

US Congress said an alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador should be taken very seriously.

WASHINGTON: The heads of the intelligence committees in the US Congress said on Sunday an alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador should be taken very seriously, with one warning that the United States and Iran could be on a “collision course.” Pushing back against questions about whether the plot was a serious effort endorsed by top Iranian officials, House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said it appeared amateurish only because the United States was able to thwart it so early in the planning stages. “We were very fortunate,” Rogers said on ABC’s “This Week” programme. “We got to see this, we the US government got to see this unfold from the beginning.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2011