October 04-2013
The new Iranian government has told Argentina it will continue the commitment of the previous government for a joint probe into the 1994 bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires.
But the two countries have not yet named any members to the commission that is to handle the investigation.
The joint investigation was agreed to last January by the foreign ministers of Iran and Argentina. The concept has been derided by leaders of the Argentine Jewish community, who say it is ridiculous to ask an accused murderer to investigate the murders of which he is accused.
The bombing of the building of the Argentine Jewish Charities Federation, or AMIA, left 85 people dead and 300 others injured in the worst attack of its kind ever to strike the South American country.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif, during a week of diplomacy at the United Nations, held talks on the bombing with his Argentine counterpart, Hector Timmerman. “Iranian authorities confirmed that the relevant authorities have approved the agreement,” an Argentine diplomat told Agence France Presse (AFP).
But the deal will not come into force until a formal exchange of documents, she said. The two sides also have still not resolved two key issues, including the naming of the investigatory commission, whose five members will be neither Argentine nor Iranian. There has also been no agreement on a date for Argentine investigators to travel to Iran to interview suspects.
Argentina charges that the Lebanese Hezbollah carried out the attack under orders from Iran, whose embassy it says organized the attack. Tehran’s clerical regime denies the charges. Since 2006, Argentine courts have sought the extradition of eight Iranians, including former President Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, former Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi and Mohsen Rabbani, Iran’s former cultural attache in Buenos Aires.
In a speech before the UN General Assembly last week, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said she had “expectations of change” in her country’s relationship with Iran. But she warned the Islamic Republic not to confuse “patience with naivete or stupidity,” and urged Tehran to move ahead on the sticking points of the bombing investigation agreement.