Argentinean Foreign Minister Hector Timerman has welcomed Iran’s offer to cooperate in the investigation of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Centre in Buenos Aires.
The Argentinean ministry said it has not yet received any formal proposal from Tehran but confirmed that the move would be considered “unprecedented and positive.”
Today marks 17 years since the Argentina Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA), the largest Jewish Centre in Buenos Aires, was destroyed by a car bomb that killed 85 people.
Argentina blames the Islamic Republic for the bombing, but Iran denies the charge and yesterday offered to collaborate on the investigation.
A few hours after the Iranian offer was publicized, Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor on the AMIA case, called on Iran to refrain from “empty statements” and said the only way it could cooperate would be to hand over the suspects in the case.
Argentina had previously issued arrest warrants for the officials it holds responsible which include former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani; former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati; the former head of Qods branch, the foreign division of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Ahmad Vahidi; and Mohsen Rezai, the former head of the IRGC.
A 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 29 people also remains unsolved. Israel claims Iranian authorities were also involved in that case.
Iran denies involvement in any bombing and insists that the accusations are politically motivated.
