Assassination Plot Against Saudi Diplomat on U.S. Soil

Authorities foiled an alleged plot that was directed by factions of the Iranian government to bomb the Israeli and Saudi Arabian embassies in Washington and a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday at a press conference.

A criminal complaint was unsealed in federal court in New York Tuesday and named Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri as the two alleged plotters, both with ties to Iran. Arbabsiar has been jailed in New York since September and Shakuri remains at large.

The complaint alleges that Iran helped conceive, sponsor and direct the plot. Holder called the alleged plot was a "flagrant violation of US and international law" and said the U.S. will hold Iran accountable.

According to the complaint, last Spring, Arbabsiar met with an informant from the DEA agent in Mexico posing as a member of a sophisticated and violent international drug-trafficking cartel. It was during these meetings that Arbabsiar allegedly offered the agent  money to assassinate the ambassador for $1.5 million. Arbabsiar allegedly wired $100,000 into a U.S. bank account in August as a down payment for the hit.

Arbabsiar allegedly confessed to his participation in the alleged plot.

The two planned to use an explosive device to assassinate the ambassador, according to the criminal complaint. The alleged plot would have maimed others and damaged nearby structures in the surrounding area.

Shakuri, a member of Iran’s Qods Force, a special operations unit of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, allegedly approved the money transfer.

FBI Director Robert Mueller says many lives could have been lost in the plot to kill the ambassador with bombs in the U.S.

Arbabsair, a naturalized U.S. citizen who holds an Iranian passport, allegedly expressed disregard for the collateral damage that the attacks in Washington would have caused.

The two are charged with conspiracy to kill a foreign official, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy to commit an act of international terrorism and other charges.

Before Tuesday's announcement, Interpol -- the international police organization -- issued an alert obtained exclusively by Fox News that warned of plans to assassinate an ambassador in the U.S.

Holder said the U.S. government would be taking unspecified action against the Iranian government as early as Tuesday afternoon. Asked whether the plot was blessed by the top echelons of the Iranian government, Holder said the Justice Department was not making that accusation.

“This plot is a dangerous escalation of the Iranian government’s longstanding use of violence," a State Department official told Fox News. "We consider this effort to assassinate a diplomat within the United States to be a flagrant violation of international law."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.