Iranian clerics hold up anti-Saudi placards as they face riot policemen in front of the Saudi embassy in Tehran earlier this year.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The alleged plot doesn't fit Iran's style, analysts say
- Iran stood to lose too much, and had easier targets to pursue, they say
- Such a desperate measure doesn't fit Iran's stature, former Bush adviser says
- Too many questions are unanswered for U.S. officials to implicate Iran at highest levels
Washington (CNN) -- Did an elite branch of Iran's military handpick a divorced, 56-year-old Iranian-American used-car salesman from Texas to hire a hitman from a Mexican drug cartel to assassinate the ambassador to Saudi Arabia by blowing up a bomb in a crowded restaurant in Washington?
U.S. officials say they are certain the bizarre plot against Ambassador Adel Jubeir was real.
But some analysts say they are not. They find it unlikely that the Iranian government, or legitimate factions within, would be involved in such a tangled plot.
Iran slams plot allegations
They cite five reasons why:
1. The alleged plot doesn't fit Iran's style
In the 32-year history of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its Quds Force -- the branch implicated in the alleged plot -- has never been publicly linked to an assassination plot or an attack on U.S. soil. In cases where Quds Force members have been accused of plotting attacks, they had gone to great lengths to cover their tracks and hire proxy groups of the highest caliber, like the Lebanese Hezbollah.
