Pat Dollard | Young Americans

This is Iran’s response to Interpol putting 5 Iranians on their Most Wanted list for a terrorist attack in Argentina.

AP News Alert

Nov 13 06:37 PM US/Eastern

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran accused five Argentines with falsely implicating a group of Iranians in the 1994 terrorist bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, state IRNA news agency said Tuesday.

Tehran ordered the five who live in Argentina to appear in an Iranian court. The action came a week after Interpol put four Iranians and one Lebanese man on its most-wanted list for the 1994 blast that killed 85 people and wounded 200. The move was in response to a request from Argentina.

No one has been brought to justice for the July 18, 1994 bombing at the center when an explosives-laden van detonated, leveling the seven- story building.

Argentine prosecutors contend the plot was hatched at a 1993 meeting in Mashad, Iran, and the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah was entrusted with carrying it out.

They say witness accounts, other testimony and telephone and travel documents prove the meeting occurred.

Iran says it has evidence showing such a meeting never took place and pledged this week to defend the wanted Iranians, despite the Argentine arrest warrants. Iran also accused Interpol of bowing to U.S. and Israeli pressure to issue the warrants.

Interpol can not force countries to arrest or extradite suspects, but can put government leaders on the spot for letting suspects move freely.

The dispute is steeped in geopolitical drama at a time of high tension between Iran and the West over Tehran’s suspect nuclear program and U.S. claims that Iran is supplying weapons to insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan—claims that the Islamic Republic denies.

Here’s the Iranian state agency’s story:

Iranian justice system on Tuesday summoned to court five Argentine nationals for orchestrating scenario to implicate Iran in the 1994 terrorist bombing of Argentine-Israel Mutual Association (AMIA).

The terrorist bombing of the Jewish center occurred on July 18, 1994. Suspects had been reported to have local connections among whom many members of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police.

Argentine former minister of the interior Carlos Corach, AMIA president Ruben Beraja, Argentine judge Juan Jose Galeano, prosecutor Eamon Mullen and Jose Barbaccia have been notified by Argentine justice system to attend the court of justice in Tehran to hear the charges against them.
Deputy Prosecutor General, Yadollah Alizadeh said that the five Argentine nationals are charged with making case against Iran and hiring individuals with anti-government affiliations to give testimony against Iran.

Alizadeh said that the five Argentine nationals should report to Tehran Justice Department.

Otherwise, he said Iran will demand international arrest warrant against them by the International Police (Interpol).