Argentina has requested Pakistan and Sri Lanka to arrest Iran’s Interior Minister, Ahmad Vahidi, in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. The attack, which killed 85 people, has long been suspected to have been carried out by the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group at Iran’s behest. Interpol issued a red notice for Vahidi’s arrest at Argentina’s request in 2007, which was renewed in 2022.
Vahidi, a former senior member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps and defense minister from 2009 to 2013, is part of a delegation from Tehran led by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi currently on a trip to the two countries. Argentina’s statement noted the international law enforcement agency Interpol’s arrest warrant for Vahidi, who is accused of being one of the key masterminds of the attack on the AMIA.
On April 12, a court in Argentina placed blame on Iran for the 1994 bombing and for another bombing two years earlier against the Israeli embassy, which killed 29 people. The court also implicated Hezbollah and called the attack against the AMIA – the deadliest in Argentina’s history – a “crime against humanity.”
Argentina has previously stated that Vahidi is one of the key masterminds of the 1994 attack on the AMIA, and sought his extradition. In 2006, Argentine courts requested the extradition of eight Iranians, including Vahidi. In 2013, then-Argentine president Cristina Kirchner signed a memorandum with Iran under which Argentine prosecutors could question the suspects outside Argentina. The Jewish community in Argentina expressed outrage and accused the president of orchestrating a cover-up.
In their ruling this month, the Argentine judges examined the geopolitical context at the time of the attacks and found they corresponded with foreign policy positions towards Iran under Argentina’s then-president Carlos Menem. The judges put blame on Iran’s then-president Ali Akbar Hashemi Bahramani Rafsanjani, as well as other Iranian officials and Hezbollah members.
The Argentina justice system eventually dropped its probe of Kirchner, but the case of the AMIA bombing remains open and Vahidi remains at large. Argentina’s request for his arrest is a reminder of the ongoing efforts to bring those responsible for the attack to justice.
