Feds Disrupt Iranian-Backed Plot to Bomb Israeli Embassy, Assasinate Saudi Envoy to USA

Agents from the FBI and DEA have reportedly disrupted a terror plot liked directly to Iran's Quds force that involved simultaneous attacks against the Israeli and Saudi embassies in Washington D.C.

Federal investigatos allege that an Iranian American identified as 56 year old Mansour Arbabsiar, a Corpus Christi TX used car salesman as the man who approached what he thought was a member of the Los Zetas cartel with a proposal to kill the Saudi ambassador to the USA and bomb the Israeli embassy in Washington D.C. in exchange for $1.5 million and an undisclosed amount of opium.

Arbabsiar and the informant met twice in Reynosa in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, across the border from McAllen, TX [interestingly, observers note that Reynosa is in territory still under control of the Gulf Cartel, but the accused was meeting with what he thought was an enforcer from the archrival Los Zetas- NANESB!] where Arbabsiar bragged that he had a cousin who was a high-ranking member of the Quds force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and that they were being directed by senior-level officials of the Iranian regime.

The five count criminal complaint names Gohlam Shakuri, an Iranian based member of the Quds force still at large in Iran, as a co-conspirator in the plot. Arbabsiar and the informant negotiated a $1.5 million payment to carry out the attacks, with the accused wiring two seperate payments of $49,960 into a dummy FBI bank account. Arbabsiar also told the informant that his contacts in Iran couild provide Los Zetas with 'tons' of opium if they were interested.

Federal agents said they recorded a number of phone calls and meeting with the informant and Arbabsiar, some of the calls coming from Iran. In late September, when Arbabsiar was flying to Mexico City from Iran via Frankfurt, he was refused entry into Mexico by immigration officers at Arturo Beneitez international airport and was put on a flight to New York where he was taken into custody.

Not surprisingly, Iran has denied the charges against their regime, claiming the case is a 'prefabricated scenario' and propaganda against the Islamic regime.

Interestingly, even though Arbabsiar was taken into custody nearly two weeks ago, Attorney General Eric Holder's press conference announcing the disruption of the plot came a day before House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chariman, Darrell Issa (R- CA49) issued Holder a subpoena in regards to their ongoing Fast & Furious probe in which the ATF allowed firearms to be trafficked from the USA to Mexican drug cartels. In fact, one of the reporters brought up Fast & Furious during the press conference, only to have Holder dismiss it with a boilerplate statement about turning over the relelvant documents before walking out.

There is precedent for Iranian-backed groups co-ordinating attacks out of Latin America. In 1992, 29 people were killed when a truck bomb exploded outside the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires. A group with links to the Iranian back Hezbollah terrorist group and Iran called the Islamic Jihad organization claimed responsibility. The Isreali Embassy attacks were followed up by the 1994 bombing of the AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina) building in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people. Argentine investigators believe that both operations were planned and financed in the Tri-Border area where the boundaries of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil meet near Iguazu Falls and where Hezbollah has been active over the last two decades. More recently, Mexican intelligence has been aware of a Hezbollah presence in Tijuana and Durango.

Days of Rage: Antigovernment Protests in Lebanon, Egypt

EGYPT: As anti-government protests entered their fourth consecutive day, the entire nation of Egypt went into Friday morning with no internet or SMS text messaging. This unprecedented step by the Mubarak regime was taken in an effort to hinder realtime communications among the protesters as the unrest has started spreading to other parts of the country.

Egypt's four primary Internet providers -- Link Egypt, Vodafone/Raya, Telecom Egypt, Etisalat Misr -- all stopped moving data in and out of the country at 12:34 a.m., according to a network security firm monitoring the traffic. Telecom experts said Egyptian authorities could have engineered the cutoff with a simple change to the instructions for the companies' networking equipment.

The Internet appeared to remain cut off Friday morning, and cell-phone text and Blackberry Messenger services were all cut or operating sporadically in what appeared to be a move by authorities to disrupt the organization of demonstrations.

Egyptians outside the country were posting updates on Twitter after getting information in voice calls from people inside the country. Many urged their friends to keep up the flow of information over the phones.

The developments were a sign that President Hosni Mubarak's regime is toughening its crackdown following the biggest protests in years against his nearly 30-year rule.

The shutdown comes as former International Atomic Energy Association head Mohammed El Baradei arrived in Cairo from Vienna on Thursday. The former UN nuclear watchdog [and a piss poor one at that- NANESB!] said that the Mubarak regime was on its last legs and has expressed a willingness to serve in some capacity on a post-Mubarak interim government.

[OK, kindly indulge me as I put on my conspiracy theorist hat. I didn't give much thought to any external factors playing a role in Egypt's unrest until I heard El Baradei's name mentioned. I'm well aware the Mubarak's autocratic rule combined with the rising prices of food and high unemployment by themselves would set up conditions for unrest.

With that said, if I wanted a nuclear-armed Iran, I would've had El Baradei continue to serve as the IAEA head- North Korea and Iran's nuclear programs had advanced considerably under his watch. Perhaps there's some quid-pro-quo involved or perhaps El Baradei really was just that inept and incompetent as IAEA head.

Also, Mubarak is in his 80s, so you wouldn't exactly need a Machiavellian advisor to realize that your golden opportunity to seize power would come sooner rather than later. Even if I did fully believe that Iran was stirring up unrest in Egypt so they could install El Baradei as a puppet leader of a client state, even they likely would've been caught off guard by the nature of this week's protests and are perhaps attempting to move up their timetable after events in Tunisia earlier this month.

This would not be unprecedented for Iran's ruling mullahs- take a look at Lebanon since 1979. Also keep in mind that the Iranians named a street in honor of Sadat's assassin.

Whaddaya think; too tinfoil hat?- NANESB!]

LEBANON: Sunni Muslims and supporters of ousted Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri burned tires and blocked roads in Lebanon on Tuesday to protest the takeover of the Lebanese government by Hezbollah.

Angry protesters in the northern city of Tripoli also torched a satellite van belonging to the Qatari-based Al-Jazeera TV Network, which Hariri's supporters have referred to as 'Hezbollah TV'. The series of protests came shortly before 68 out of 128 members of parliament named Telecom mogul Najib Mikati as Prime Minister-designate.

At issue will be the the Mikati government's willingness to accept the results of the United Nations Tribunal's investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri- Saad's father. The Tribunal had completed the investigation and handed down a series of sealed indictments widely believed to implicate Hezbollah earlier this month. Hezbollah has denied any role in the assassination 2005 Valentine's Day car bombing that killed Rafiq Hariri and 22 others in Beirut and claims Israel was behind the assassination [even though Hezbollah and their Syrian and Iranian benefactors would benefit most from the elder Hariri's death- NANESB!].