Argentina demands arrest of Iranian Interior Minister for 1994 Jewish Center attack

Argentina's Foreign Ministry announced that Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi in connection with his role in the 1994 terrorist attack on a Jewish center in Buenos Aires.

Vahidi is currently on an official visit to Pakistan and Sri Lanka as part of a delegation. Argentina has also appealed to the authorities of these countries to enforce the Interpol warrant.

On July 18, 1994, a car bomb exploded in front of the AMIA (Argentine Jewish Mutual Aid Association) building, claiming 85 lives and injuring 300.

Two years prior to this attack, another bombing at the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires killed 22 people and wounded 200.

Argentine prosecutors determined that Iran and Hezbollah were responsible for the attacks. However, local law enforcement agencies, under pressure from President Carlos Menem, delayed the investigation for a decade.

In January 2014, former Israeli Ambassador to Argentina Yitzhak Aviran criticized the Argentine authorities for inaction, despite Israeli intelligence identifying the organizers and perpetrators of the attacks. Aviran stated, "Most of those responsible are no longer alive, and we did it ourselves."

In 2015, federal prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who led the prosecution of the terrorist attacks, was found dead. The discovery occurred the day before a congressional hearing where Nisman planned to present evidence supporting his allegations against Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, and other senior officials.

Nisman accused them of engaging in secret negotiations with Iran to avoid extraditing the perpetrators of the Buenos Aires terrorist attacks in the 1990s in exchange for Iranian oil and weapons.

In 2017, a Special Police Investigator, after reviewing evidence from the scene, concluded that Nisman had been shot in the head and that his death was not a suicide, as initially claimed.

In 2019, Buenos Aires designated the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah as illegal. However, before this decision, Argentine authorities frequently impeded the investigation into the two terrorist attacks linked to Iran.

On April 12, 2024, an Argentine court declared Iran a terrorist state, holding Tehran responsible for both terrorist attacks. The court determined that Hezbollah, acting on Tehran's orders, carried out the attacks in retaliation for Argentina's cancellation of a deal to supply Iran with nuclear materials and technology.