Adel al-Jubeir

This affair could amount to little more than a vintage case of entrapment à la John DeLorean. American officials have admitted that no one was ever in any danger. Tehran has categorically denied any connection to Manssor or to the alleged plot.

Tehran has demanded consular access to Manssor, a dual national, in order to question him. Iran’s Foreign Minister announced on Monday: “We are prepared to examine any issue, even if fabricated, seriously and patiently, and we have called on America to submit to us any information in regard to this scenario.” Wouldn’t it be great if Washington could send a special ambassador to Tehran to sort out the matter?

Who wired the bank transfer of a hundred thousand dollars as a down payment for the crime? The money did not come from Iran. If the wire transfer was for real, it is the only tangible evidence that something was afoot, including the possibility of a false-flag operation to advance a hidden foreign-policy agenda.

Investigative reporter Gareth Porter is based in Washington and writes for Inter Press Service and Asia Times Online. Based on the amended indictment and the FBI report, Porter suggests that the “terror plot” was really a drug sting. Paul Jay, senior editor and CEO of the Real News Network, has interviewed Porter twice. Part 1 is here; Part 2 is here. What really happened may or may not come out in the wash. What matters now is whether or not the incident will be utilized as a catalyst for a shooting war.

I say it will, because Washington is already at war with Iran and has been for some time. Economic sanctions are an act of war. The ongoing project to demonize and destabilize Iran is longstanding. This is an undeclared war by the lone surviving superpower, a war whose sole purpose is Iranian regime change. The war could be ended anytime Washington wants to call it off. But Washington can’t call it off, because its politicians are dependent upon making Iran the bogeyman and profiting from the current scenario.

Americans were conned repeatedly under the Cheney regency and are being conned shamelessly again under Barack Obama’s Potemkin Village presidency. It all amounts to warmongering. We are watching a continuation of the same old movie.