NEW YORK — An Iranian-American used-car salesman from Texas who was accused of plotting to hire assassins from a Mexican drug cartel to murder Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday in US District Court in Manhattan.
The defendant, Mansour J. Arbabsiar, a naturalized US citizen living in Corpus Christi, Texas, was arrested on Sept. 29, 2011, at Kennedy International Airport, and he ultimately pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme.
When the case was made public, it riveted Washington and raised already-heightened tensions between the Sunni royal family that rules Saudi Arabia and the Shi’ite-controlled government in Iran.
At the time of Arbabsiar’s arrest, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said that the plot had been “directed and approved by elements of the Iranian government and, specifically, senior members of the Quds force,” which is part of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
The Iranian government has denied that it had anything to do with the plot.
The plan, according to government officials, involved Arbabsiar paying a member of the Los Zetas drug cartel $1.5 million to plant a bomb at a Washington restaurant while the Saudi ambassador, Adel al-Jubeir, dined.
But Arbabsiar, who had been drawn into the plot by a cousin in Iran who was a high-ranking member of the Quds Force, turned to a man in Mexico he believed was an associate of a drug cartel to hire a team of assassins. The man turned out to be a confidential informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Judge John F. Keenan noted before imposing the sentence that when Arbabsiar was told that there would probably be 100 to 150 people in the restaurant when it was bombed, he replied, “No problem,” or “No big deal,” according to a recording of the conversation made secretly by the drug agency’s informer.
“Nothing in the record before me warrants a sentence of less than 25 years,” the judge said. “In a case like this, deterrence is of supreme importance.”
He added, “Others who may have financial or political purposes in engaging in acts of violence against the United States or its interests must learn the lesson that such conduct will not be tolerated.”
Preet Bharara, the US attorney in Manhattan, whose office had sought the maximum 25-year sentence, called Arbabsiar “an enemy among us — the key conduit for, and facilitator of, a nefarious international plot concocted by members of the Iranian military to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States and as many innocent bystanders as necessary to get the job done.”
Arbabsiar, 58, addressing the judge before he was sentenced, said: “Whatever I did wrong, I take responsibility for it. I can’t change what I did. I have a good heart. I never hurt anyone.” He added, “My mind sometimes is not in a good place.”
Though Arbabsiar was originally charged with offenses that carried a maximum sentence of life in prison, he pleaded guilty in October to three counts for which he faced a maximum of 25 years. The charges included conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries and two counts related to murder-for-hire.
“It is an extraordinary crime that requires an equally serious sentence,” a prosecutor, Glen Kopp, told the judge.
Arbabsiar’s lawyer, Sabrina Shroff, a federal public defender, had sought a 10-year term, arguing that her client’s crime had been the result of a longstanding untreated bipolar disorder. In court, she also cited his cooperation with authorities after his arrest.
Authorities have said that Arbabsiar knowingly and voluntarily waived his rights to remain silent or to have a lawyer present during his interrogation in his first 12 days in custody, and that he confessed to his role in the plot and shared “extremely valuable intelligence.”
Shroff told reporters after the proceeding ended that she did not believe the sentence would be an effective deterrent. “Who is the message going to?” she said. “Does Iran really care?”
“The person has to matter,” she added. “Unfortunately for Mr. Arbabsiar, neither the United States nor the Iranian government cares. He’s expendable.”
For most of the proceeding, Arbabsiar sat still, hands in his lap, looking straight ahead except when he turned to speak with Shroff, who put her hand on his back to comfort him while the judge delivered the sentence. When the judge finished reading, Arbabsiar gave a small nod and rubbed his chin, showing little emotion.