Almost a month after law enforcement officials announced they had foiled a plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States and bomb the Saudi and Israeli embassies in the American capital, there’s still some doubt in many U.S. policy circles that the Iranians could’ve been involved. According to a number of Iran experts and analysts, the details suggest a recklessness and incompetence that is at odds with the Tehran regime’s standard method.

Nonsense, says Iranian-American author Roya Hakakian. “Experts look at this plot as if there are no reference points,” says Hakakian, “no other incidents to look at and be guided by, or nothing else that can inform current case.” In fact, Hakakian’s recently published book, Assassins of the Turquoise Palace, is about just such a precedent.