Argentina Asks If Nuclear Deal AMIA Suspect
Hector Timerman Image by getty images
Argentina’s government has expressed concern that the Iranian nuclear deal will benefit an Iranian suspect in the AMIA Jewish center bombing.
Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, in a letter sent Wednesday to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini, said he was worried about the possibility that the arrest warrant against Iran’s former defense minister, Ahmad Vahidi, will be lifted due to the agreement reached earlier this month between Iran and world powers.
Vahidi is under an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol in connection with the deadly 1994 bombing of the Buenos Aires center. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that “the E.U.’s planned delisting of Tehran’s former minister of defense, retired Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, is among a group of Iranian military officers, nuclear scientists and defense institutions set to be rehabilitated internationally in the wake of the nuclear accord.”
Timmerman wrote in his letter: “In view of the foregoing, and considering the leading role you and the government you represent have played in the negotiations that led to the nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran, I would be grateful if you could advise us whether, as a result of the agreed conditions, scope and effects of the commitment assumed by the European Union or by any other signatory to the deal, individuals or actions linked to the AMIA attack would be included.”
AMIA Vice President Thomas Saieg told the Argentine media on Thursday that Timerman’s request for information is “correct and timely.”
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner spread the letter via Twitter and commented on her blog under the headline “Delicacies of Realpolitik and media corporations: The luck of some. Judged by journalists and acquitted by their publishers,” criticizing Jewish community leaders and the media.
Kirchner also wrote about the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Iran and Argentina to jointly investigate the AMIA bombing that was criticized by the Argentine Jewish community, the United States and others.
“You surely remember when Clarin and their satellite media and politicians, meaning the opposition, stated that the sole purpose of the Memorandum was to remove Interpol red alerts? Granted, they were not alone, some community leaders declared the same thing. What to do now with all the lies that were published, the fables that were spread, or the instructions that were followed?” the president wrote.
Timerman, who is Jewish, in February unsuccessfully asked U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to include the AMIA attack in the negotiations with Iran.
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