Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 18 / Trend T.Konyayeva, T.Jafarov/
The main goals of the U.S. latest pre-fabricated anti-Iranian scenario are toughening sanctions on Iran and using a military option against it, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Tuesday in a meeting with all ambassadors accredited to the country, IRIB News reported.
Salehi met with foreign diplomats to voice Iran's official position on the U.S. accusations over an alleged plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington.
"After the accusations, the U.S. officials threatened Iran with toughening sanctions and using a military option against it," Salehi told the diplomats. "These are the main goals that the U.S. pursues when accusing us."
He noted that the U.S. allegations have surprised Iran and this scenario has raised a number of questions.
"What country may derive a benefit from this scenario? Why does the U.S. deny providing us with consular access to the detainees? Why does not their attorney appear on television? Why did not the U.S. start investigating the case through the diplomatic ways instead of publishing it in media?" Salehi asked.
He stressed that Iran blasted the U.S. allegations and refute them completely.
Salehi called on ambassadors to advise authorities in their countries not to hurry to draw conclusions about the issue and to avert the artificial crisis that may destabilize the region.
He noted that the Charter of the United States was drawn up on the basis of friendly relations among nations and Iran, being one of the authors of the Charter, tries to disseminate its values.
"The evidence of the country's adherence to the Charter's principles is the foreign policy which Iran pursued over the past 30 years," Salehi added.
Last week, the U.S. authorities said they had broken up plans by two men linked to Iranian Quds Force - a special unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) - to assassinate Saudi Ambassador to Washington Adel al-Jubeir.
U.S. Attorney-General Eric Holder said the plot was masterminded, sponsored and directed from Iran, but declined to disclose details of the conspiracy and confirm that it was approved and ordered directly by Iranian authorities.
Iran denies the allegations saying the U.S. uses this tactic to slander again Iran. The IRGC also rejected any involvement of the Quds force in the plot alleged by the United States.
On Sunday, Iran demanded consular access to Manssour Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old naturalized US citizen detained in the United States over an alleged plot.