Adel A. al-Jubeir, Saudi ambassador, targeted in assassination plot

The Justice Department accused elements of the Iranian government of being involved in a plot to kill Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States.

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Oct. 11, 2011

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announces that two people have been charged with participating in a plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States with explosives.

Haraz N. Ghanbari / Associated Press

Oct. 11, 2011

The Saudi Embassy in Washington.

Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press

Adel al-Jubeir, 49, is one of the best-known Saudi figures in the West and among the most powerful figures in Saudi foreign policy outside the royal family.

Paul J. Richards / AFP/Getty Images

Oct. 11, 2011

Members of the news media camp outside the federal courthouse in Manhattan, where one suspect in the assassination plot was charged.

Louis Lanzano / Associated Press

Mansour Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old businessman from Texas, was one of two men charged in the alleged plot.

/ Getty Images

Jubeir, shown in 2002, first became a spokesman for the Saudi government during the 1991 Persian Gulf War and later became a foreign policy adviser to then-Crown Prince Abdullah.

Alex Wong / NBC via AP

Jubeir, shown in 2002, became the Saudi ambassador to the United States in 2007. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, he prominently represented Saudi interests with the U.S. government and the American public after it became known that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens.

Dayna Smith / The Washington Post

Jubeir is a political science and economics graduate from the University of North Texas and holds a master’s degree in international relations from Georgetown University.

Susan Walsh / Associated Press

Jubeir has a a chair at Saudi King Abdullah’s side during virtually every high-level contact with world powers.

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

Jubeir has extensive connections within the Obama administration and with key lawmakers, policy experts and journalists.

Ron Edmonds / Associated Press

Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) visited Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2007 with Jubeir at her side.

Amr Nabil / AP

Jubeir is multilingual, with fluency in Arabic, German and English.

Stephen Jaffe / Agence France-Presse via Getty Images

Jubeir, shown at right in a 2007 meeting with journalists, has been credited with strengthening U.S.-Saudi ties.

Charles Dharapak / Associated Press

From left, Kuwaiti Ambassador Sheikh Salem al-Sabah, Jubeir and Obama administration national security adviser Tom Donilon.

Rebecca D'Angelo / for The Washington Post

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