Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S., Adel Al-Jubeir.
Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S., Adel Al-Jubeir, the target of the alleged Iranian terror plot. Reuters

The United States government said it has disrupted a terror plot under which agents linked to Iran were planning to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S., Adel Al-Jubeir.

Attorney General Eric Holder said members of Quds, Iran's elite fighting force and part of that country’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, were allegedly behind the conspiracy to kill the envoy.

Holder noted that two Iranians, including a naturalized U.S. citizen, have been charged with counts of conspiracy to murder a foreign official, weapons conspiracy, and conspiracy to commit international terrorism charges.

The two men as Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old U.S. citizen with dual Iranian and U.S. passports, and Gholam Shakuri, reportedly a member of the Quds Force.

Holder said Arbabsiar was arrested in September, while Shakuri remains in Iran.

Arbabsiar is scheduled to appear in court in New York on Tuesday, and faces a potential life prison sentence if convicted on all charges, according to the Department of Justice.

Reportedly, the two Iranian men paid $100,000 to an informant for the Drug Enforcement Authority for the murder of the Saudi envoy.

Noting that the plot was conceived, sponsored and directed by Iran, Holder added that Tehran will be held accountable for its involvement through the imposition of certain new measures to be announced.

Court New York Department of justice Attorney general