Saudi wants envoy-killing plot in front of UN

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has asked UN chief Ban Ki-moon to inform the Security Council of the "heinous conspiracy" to kill its envoy to Washington, in an alleged Iranian plot, SPA state news agency said on Saturday.

"The Saudi permanent mission to the United Nations in New York has ...formally requested the UN secretary general to inform the Security Council of the heinous conspiracy to assassinate the Saudi ambassador," it said.

"All those involved in this odious attempt should face justice," it added, quoting a statement by the mission.

The United States on Wednesday sought UN Security Council support for action to hold Iran "accountable" for the alleged plot, with Britain and France already strongly on board, according to diplomats.

US ambassador Susan Rice, joined by the Saudi envoy to the UN, Abdallah al-Mouallimi, held separate meetings with envoys on the 15-nation council, US officials and diplomats said.

The US Justice Department on Tuesday charged two men with conspiring with Iranian officials to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir.

Iran, which faces four rounds of Security Council sanctions over its nuclear programme, called the US allegations part of an "evil plot" against the Islamic Republic.

In a letter of protest to the Security Council, it accused Washington of "warmongering." Tehran hardened its denials on Saturday, with the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissing the accusations as "meaningless and absurd".

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has said his country "will find a suitable response" against Iran for the alleged plot.

But Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said: "We hope the Saudis will deal with this issue with caution."

He accused the United States of trying to create divisions in the Middle East but said the Saudis were "too wise to get involved in this political game." (AFP)