Mens Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiser rundt for å vinne venner i Latin-Amerika, har Argentina sendt ut internasjonal arrestordre på ni iranere, blant dem Hashemi Rafsanjani, for bomben i det jødiske senteret i Buenos Aires i 1994 som krevde 85 menneskeliv.

Vedtaket om terroraksjonen ble fattet på et møte i Mashhad i 1993 ledet av Rafsanjani, sier leder av etterforskningen. Det er interessant å merke seg grunnen: Iran likte ikke at Argentina hadde mistet sansen for Irans atomprogram. Teheran likte heller ikke at Argentina ville styrke båndene til USA og Israel.

Etterforskningen har gått uhyre tregt og har vært skandalepreget: En dommer betalte et vitne 400.000 dollar for å vitne, og ødela hundrevis av timer med vitneforklaringer. En iransk etterretningsoffiser sa for en tid tilbake at de hadde betalt daværende president Carlos Menem ti millioner dollar for å legge lokk på etterforskningen.

As Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits Latin America this weekend to strengthen economic and political ties with the region, Argentina’s Néstor Kirchner will not be in the line of presidents turning out to greet him.

Kirchner’s government has reinvigorated attempts to prosecute Iranian figures for their alleged role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center here, recently issuing arrest warrants for nine former Iranian officials. Among those sought is former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, accused of ordering the attack that killed 85 people and injured more than 200.

A bomb exploded at a Jewish community center in downtown Buenos Aires on July 18, 1994, killing 85 people and wounding more than 200. Efforts to prosecute in the case, initially stalled by judicial corruption, have led to the indictments of nine former Iranian officials.
A bomb exploded at a Jewish community center in downtown Buenos Aires on July 18, 1994, killing 85 people and wounding more than 200. Efforts to prosecute in the case, initially stalled by judicial corruption, have led to the indictments of nine former Iranian officials.
The pursuit of Iran has been frustrated over the years by blatant corruption in the Argentine judicial system and accusations of coverups.

Argentina Pursues Iran in ’94 Blast As Neighbors Court Ahmadinejad