Iran FM joins Saudi mourning amid plot tensions

[October 25, 2011]  TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran is sending its foreign minister to mourn the Saudi crown prince in a possible effort to ease tensions amid allegations that Iranian agents plotted to kill the kingdom's ambassador in Washington.

Iranian state TV says Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi will be among the dignitaries arriving Tuesday in the Saudi capital Riyadh to pay respects to the late Crown Prince Sultan, who died in New York on Saturday.

It will be Iran's highest-level contact with Saudi officials since U.S. authorities alleged earlier this month that a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard was linked to the foiled assassination plot.

Iran has dismissed the accusations as baseless. One of the suspects, an Iranian-American man who lived in Texas, pleaded not guilty Monday in New York.

[Associated Press]

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