Argentina repudiates the ministerial nomination of an Iranian accused in the AMIA bombing

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina said Wednesday that it “repudiates” the Iranian government’s decision to nominate as interior minister Ahmad Vahidi, wanted by the Argentine justice system for the 1994 bombing of the Jewish mutualist AMIA.

“Argentina expresses, once again, its most energetic condemnation of the nomination of Ahmad Vahidi to a ministerial post in Iran”, expressed the Argentine Foreign Ministry in a statement.

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For the Government of Alberto Fernández, the new nomination of Vahidi to a position in the Iranian Government constitutes an “affront” to the Argentine Justice and to the victims of the “brutal terrorist attack” perpetrated on July 18, 1994, against the headquarters of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) in Buenos Aires, in which 85 people died.

The communiqué points out that, as happened in August 2009, when Vahidi was nominated to occupy the post of Minister of Defense, his new nomination has been “received with grave concern and deserves the strongest condemnation” of the Argentine government.

The Argentine Foreign Ministry recalled that Vahidi is wanted by the South American country’s justice system for his “key participation in the decision making and planning of the AMIA bombing” and that he is the subject of an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol.

The Argentine Executive stated that it “demands once again” that the Iranian Government cooperate “fully” with the Argentine Justice, “allowing the people who have been accused of participating in the attack against AMIA to be tried by the competent courts”.

The attack on the AMIA headquarters was the second of the terrorist attacks against Jewish interests in Argentina, since in 1992, a bomb exploded in front of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 people.

The Jewish community attributes the planning and execution of both attacks to Iran and Hezbollah.