NEW-YORK (New-York Times) — Senior Saudi intelligence officials, close to Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, last year asked a small group of businessmen to use private companies to murder Iranian officials.

The New York Times reports that according to four well-informed persons, Muhammad bin Salman made this decision when he was the successor to the Crown Prince and Minister of Defence. He was working to strengthen his power and develop his military and intelligence operations abroad.

For the Iranian news agency IRNA, this fact shows that a year ago, from the moment Muhammad bin Salman took power, long before the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi officials planned to assassinate their enemies.

General Ahmad Al-Asiri

According to the NYT, General Ahmad Al-Asiri, who apparently ordered the assassination of Khashoggi, participated in a meeting in March 2017 during which businessmen developed a plan for economic sabotage in Iran with a budget of $2 bln. According to the American newspaper, Ahmad Al-Asiri also proposed to assassinate the commander of the Qods force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Qasem Soleimani.