Iranian president accuses U.S. of assassination plot

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday accused the United States of plotting to kidnap and assassinate him during a visit to Iraq, state media reported.

The president told a meeting of clerics in the central city of Qom that Iran’s “enemies” planned to kill him when he went to Baghdad in March, according to the president’s Web site. Iranian leaders usually use the term “enemies” to refer to Western nations and the United States in particular.

The report on the presidential Web site did not specify the United States as the source of the plot. But state television reported that Ahmadinejad had “unveiled a shocking story” — that “Americans had intended to kidnap him during his trip to Iraq.”

Ahmadinejad said the plot was never carried out because of “intentional” last-minute changes in his schedule during the visit, the Web site said. He said the conspirators learned about the changes after he left Iraq.

Ahmadinejad’s trip to Baghdad was the first by an Iranian leader since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, a sign of the close ties between Tehran and the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.

During his visit, Ahmadinejad did not stay in the heavily fortified Green Zone, where the Iraqi government and U.S. Embassy are centered and where most visiting dignitaries reside. Instead, he stayed in a compound that includes the home of President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, head of Iraq’s largest Shiite party, both of whom have strong ties to Tehran, the security official said.