(Jewish Chronicle-UK) Matthew Levitt - Iran and Argentina recently concluded a first round of negotiations over the 1994 bombing of the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Aid Association (AMIA) in Buenos Aires that killed 85 and wounded 300. Argentina has long sought the extradition of eight Iranians - including current Defense Minister Ahmed Vahidi and former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani - for their roles in the bombing. The Argentinean state investigation into the bombing has concluded that Iran and Hizbullah were behind the attack. Abolghasem Mesbahi, a defector from the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), testified to Argentine investigators that the AMIA building was picked from a list of targets at a meeting of senior Iranian officials in Mashaad, Iran, on August 14, 1993. The list was supplied by Moshen Rabbani, who officially served as a representative of the Iranian Ministry of Agriculture in Buenos Aires and is described by Argentinean prosecutors as "the driving force" behind an Iranian intelligence network in Argentina. Rabbani organized the logistics for the attack and liaised with Hizbullah operatives on the ground. Much of the funding for the operation flowed through bank accounts controlled by Rabbani. Rabbani was assisted by an array of diplomats at Iran's embassy in Buenos Aires. To deny Iran's role in the bombing looks like suspending reality. Iran's goal in these negotiations is clear: to press Argentina to bury its probe in favor of improved diplomatic relations. Which begs the question: what is there for Argentina to discuss? The writer directs Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
2012-12-18 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive