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verizon is the nation'fastest and most reliable 4g network. verizon. built so you can rule the air. megyn: fox news alert. we are now live in washington, as we await a news conference by the u.s. attorney general, eric holder and head of the fbi, robert mueller, we expect them to be revealing details of a significant terror plot that has been thwarted, targeting different institutions inside of the united states. we understand the conference will begin momentarily, and this is what we know so far about the plot. that it involves iran and plans to bomb the saudi and israeli embassies in washington, d.c., as well as to reportedly assassinate a saudi ambassador to the united states. so far, now we are being told two men have been charged in the plot, one, a naturalized u.s. citizen from iran, and we will have
>> they don't care. megyn: has its eye on the united states, and that's been clear. >> well, we've had sanctions, but we've been unable to get a lot of other countries to go ahong. presumably, we're going to ramp up efforts on sanctions. technically, you could construe this as an act of war. now, you could make a lot of excuses saying, well, it wasn't the iranian government, it was parts of the iranian government. megyn: well, speak to that. before you go on and finish that point, speak to that. there's the iranian revolutionary guard, and then ahmadinejad and the government there. this is the revolutionary guard. >> yes, this is the quds force which we have designated as a terrorist organization. it's a military, yes, it's also a paramilitary, but it also owns and operates a lot of businesses within iran. so it's like the military industrial complex of iran. now, some scholars have said, look, there's this civil war going on with iran, there's a split between ahmadinejad and the clerics, there's a split
with the israelis in the event that the israelis decide to attack iran and take out their nucleolar weapons facility. so this is a very, very dangerous time in the middle east, very dangerous situation with iran, and i don't think that the administration can remain neutral any longer. it really needs to step up its actions to undermine that government. megyn: mahmoud ahmadinejad, the iranian president, has said he would like to see israel wiped off the face of the map, he's made no secret of his feelings towards iran. that clearly says something as well. this plot, we are being told, was not about bombing saudi target in saudi arabia or an israeli target inside israel, but those two targets inside of washingtond.c., inside the united states of america. as well as an assassination of a saudi ambassador to the united states of america.
he didn't know at the time was an undercover fbi bank account. he sent two wire transfers of about $49,000 apiece. the payment for the assassination of the saudi ambassador was supposed to be $1.5 million, but he did manage to send two wire transfers. he also made some telephone calls from iran to the united states. those were recorded by the fbi, we understand. and then on september 28th, he tried to fly back to mexico, where he was going to have a final planning session, we're told, but the mexican authorities didn't allow him into the country. his plane, he was i diverted to new york, when he got off the plane in new york, that's when he was arrested by the fbi. at that point, we understand that he began cooperating with the fbi, the case is under jurisdiction in new york, but those are some of the details we have at this time about how this plot was going to -- how they eventually caught him. megyn: i want to tell our viewers, we were given a two
conduct assassination attempts on u.s. soil of foreign diplomats, it really puts iran in a whole new rogue state light. now, think about it for a few minutes. iran couldn't get these people in saudi arabia or in israel, right? so they're looking for another country to attack them with. the united states is a hard country to do that in. megyn: right. >> it would be much easier to find some third world country -- megyn: so what does that tell you? >> >> they want to make a point that they can reach into the united states and do something of that level. so far we've only seen al-qaeda which has wanted to attack on u.s. soil. but now iran is taking this a whole new level, and so much for, you know, president obama extending the hand of friendship to iran. they don't want any friendship, and thai making it -- they're making it pretty clear. megyn: you have eric holder saying that the united states is committing to holding iran accountable. what does that mean? sanctions? i mean -- >> well, we've already done that. megyn: they don't contain --
the one on a worldwide jihad with the united states, but what this shows is iran is willing to consider this a worldwide conflict. um, and, again, i think that that is -- i'm not sure what their game is, and i'm not sure anybody knows what their game is, even themselves, but it really is entering a very high-stakes poker game. megyn: kt, thank you. stand by, if you would. joining me now for more is walid phares, terrorism experience. let's pick up where kt and i left off, and let me ask you, is this an act of war? should the united states even consider treating it as such, or does that elevate it to a level it does not justifiably get to? >> let's go bottom up. number one, for the iranian services, revolutionary guard and others to have enough networks, cells or individuals capable of striking inside washington, d.c., the federal capital, that is the first thing that comes to our mind in terms of homeland security. and if they have it in washington, so where else they
anything? >> reporter: right now, the pentagon would not be commenting. we've called over to the state department, everybody is going to let the department of justice take the lead on this right now, but certainly, the state department is going to have to have a reaction, at a certain point, because this deals with -- this is an international issue, we're dealing with a potential foiled attack in washington, d.c., and if the culprits -- if the fbi believes they have links going back to iran and involving the saudi ambassador on u.s. territory, that is an international issue. megyn: certainly is. stand by as we await the attorney general. we expect him out momentarily. i want to get back to neil livingston if i can for a quick moment before we hear from the attorney general. neil, how bold is this? >> well, this is very bold. i have a department across the street from the saudi -- an apartment across the street from the saudi embassy, across from the kennedy center, this is in the heart of the washington, d.c., and the israeli
megyn: fox news alert, and we are now awaiting details on reports of a significant terror plot targeting the united states. our producers in washington tell us that attorney general eric holder and fbi director robert mueller will be holding a news conference in about 20 minutes, a fact we reported to you earlier. the topic we did not know, now we are getting these reports: that the plot reportedly involves iran and plans to bomb both the saudi and israeli embassies in washington, d.c. as well as to assassinate the saudi ambassador to the united states. the details as being reported by another news agency now suggest that the operation that our government conducted began in may when an iranian-american from texas approached a dea informant seeking his help to assassinate the saudi ambassador. again, a news conference on what we are being told was a foiled terror plot by iran targeting
iran through his cousin, a cousin who lives in iran. megyn: understood, jennifer, thank you. that news conference is now three minutes away, right after this break. stay with us, breaking news.
are you saying? >> well, the organization that i referenced in my remarks is a component of the iranian government. as we've alleged in the complaint, this was directed and approved by elements of the iranian government, specifically senior members of the iranian islamic revolutionary guard corps and iranian military, high officials up in those agencies which is an integral part of the iranian government who were responsible for this plot. >> does it extend to the up per regions of the iranian government knew about this and blessed this? >> we are not making this charge at this point. >> were the -- what about the other attacks to follow and what was the understood motivation or purpose behind the overall plot? >> we are restricting our comments today to that which we have charged in the complaint. >> why were the charges brought in new york? and were there any charges