Iran said on Saturday that the US government rebuffed itsrequest to hand over information on an alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudiambassador to Washington.
"This person has had no link to Islamic Republic ofIran entities," the foreign ministry said in a statement received by AFP,referring to a suspect named by the United States.
"Based on legal norms, if there is any claim againstany other government, the US government should submit the accused person'sinformation to the other country and request cooperation," it said.
"The US government, despite a clear request from theIslamic Republic of Iran and contrary to international conventions, has nottaken any action in this regard," the ministry added.
The statement came a day after conflicting reports fromTehran and its arch-foe, Washington, over contacts.
Local media reported Friday that Iran's mission to theUnited Nations denied "direct contact" between Iranian and Americanofficials, after State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reportersthat Washington and Tehran had had such contact over the alleged plot.
Nuland later insisted Washington had direct contact withTehran.
Iran has strongly denied any involvement in what the US sayswas a plot by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds force to kill Adelal-Jubeir, possibly through the bombing of a Washington restaurant by hiringassassins from a Mexican drug cartel.
News of the alleged plot which surfaced on Tuesday has senttensions soaring between Tehran and Washington, foes for more than 30 yearsever since Islamic students took US diplomats hostage in their embassy inTehran after Iran's 1979 revolution.
An Iranian used-car salesman who is a naturalised US citizenliving in Texas, Manssor Arbabsiar, is said to have confessed to acting as thego-between for his cousin, whom he described as a high-ranking official in theQuds Force, and the Mexican cartel.
Arbabsiar is in US custody, charged with the plot.
The US Justice Department has also charged another Iranianidentified as Gholam Shakuri, who is said to be an Iran-based Quds Force operativewho flew to the United States to speak with Ababsiar. He is now believed to bein Iran.