On Aug. 21, London-based Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported that it learned from unnamed sources that “Iran masterminded a plot to assassinate Saudi Ambassador to Baghdad Thamer al-Sabhan and entrusted the implementation of this plot to Iraqi Shiite militias affiliated with Iran.”
In the same article, an unnamed Iraqi source was quoted as saying, “The plot [to assassinate the Saudi ambassador] consisted of using cars from the Interior Ministry with fake plates to intercept the Saudi ambassador's convoy on its way to Baghdad International Airport and carry out the assassination attempt using anti-tank RPG-7 grenades. The perpetrators of the operation would then flee to the Sunni Radwaniyah area in order to mislead the security services and pretend that the operation was carried out by the Islamic State.”
A day after the article's publication, Jamal responded in a press statement, “The Iraqi Foreign Ministry confirms that what is being circulated by some media outlets regarding a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Baghdad is incorrect and only aims to harm the brotherly relations between the kingdom and Iraq.”
For his part, Sabhan said in a televised statement Aug. 22, “We are receiving information every now and then about plots prepared by Iraqi militias in cooperation with Iran to target the Saudi Embassy in Iraq or the Saudi ambassador, and we relay this information to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry in line with the norms of diplomacy.”
Aws al-Khafaji, the secretary-general of the Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas Brigades, which is affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), confirmed Sabhan's assassination theory in an Aug. 23 statement.
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