(JTA) Iran financed the 2007 campaign of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in exchange for nuclear know-how and impunity for Iranians in the AMIA bombing, the Brazilian magazine Veja reported on Saturday. "I need you to broker with Argentina for aid to my country's nuclear program," Iran's then-president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez on Jan. 13, 2007, according to three former Chavez Cabinet members who now live in the U.S. "We need Argentinians to share their knowledge on nuclear technology; without this collaboration it is impossible to advance our program." "I have another issue," Ahmadinejad added. "I need you to discourage the Argentinians from insisting that Interpol capture the authorities of my country," referring to six Iranians on the Interpol most wanted list in connection with the 1994 AMIA Jewish center bombing in Buenos Aires that killed 85. Iran was interested in the Argentine experience with its heavy-water nuclear reactor at Atucha because it wanted to produce plutonium for use in nuclear weapons.
2015-03-16 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive