Timeline of Assassination Plot

Reported by: Farrah Fazal
Last Update: 5:50 pm

The assassination plot against the Saudi ambassador to the United States and the operation to nab the suspect took some time.

Federal court documents say Mansoor Arbabsiar started talking to an informant back in the spring, six months ago. He thought the man was a drug dealer; the plot unfolded over the next six months. Here's how it went down.

Early spring 2011

Arbabsiar met his cousin Gholam Shakuri in Iran. Shakuri is a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Army. Arbabsiar told his cousin as a result of his business, he knew people who traveled between Mexico and the United States. He believed they were drug traffickers.

He told his cousin he would hire someone in the drug business because they would be willing to commit crime for money. Shakuri gave Arbabsiar money to pay for the plot. They came up with the code name "Chevrolet." That’s how they would refer to the assassination attempt on the Saudi ambassador.

On May 24

Arbabsiar traveled back and forth between Texas and Mexico where he met with a DEA informant he believed was drug dealer. A week later, on May 30, he traveled to Mexico to meet the hitman. On June 23, he flew to Mexico again to meet with the hitman

Prosecutors say they have an audio recording from July 14 that shows Arbabsiar talking to the informant about the assassination plot and other attacks on the United States.

Almost a month later on July 17, Arbabsiar and the DEA informant talked about plans to kill the ambassador at a restaurant near the Capitol in DC. He also told the informant he was good for the money. He told them his cousin had the Iranian government behind him paying the money.

“When the confidential source noted that there could be 100 or 150 people in a fictional restaurant where the requested bombing would take place, including possibly members of the United States Congress, the lead defendant, acting on behalf of a component of the government of Iran, said ‘no problem’ and ‘no big deal,’â€