Reuters: Iran has made a request to Interpol for the arrest of five Argentines, a news agency said on Tuesday, in the latest development in a tit-for-tat row over the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires. TEHRAN, Nov 13 (Reuters) – Iran has made a request to Interpol for the arrest of five Argentines, a news agency said on Tuesday, in the latest development in a tit-for-tat row over the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires.
Six days ago the world police body’s annual general assembly voted to issue “Red Notices” seeking the extradition of five Iranians and one Lebanese national in connection with the attack.
Tehran has repeatedly denied any link to the bombing in which 85 people were killed, and blames the United States and Israel for trying to implicate it.
In a retaliatory move, an Iranian court sent Argentina a summons for five Argentines in August, accusing them of “actions against the security of the Islamic Republic.” Buenos Aires has rejected the court summons.
On Tuesday, the official IRNA news agency said prosecutor general Qorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi ordered their arrest via Interpol on charges also including making accusations against Iran “based on baseless and faked information” and bribery.
The five Argentines included a former judge and a former interior minister, the report said.
Argentina last year issued international arrest warrants for former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, seven other Iranians, and a former leading figure in the Hezbollah guerrilla group on charges of masterminding the attack.
Interpol said in March it would issue its own wanted notices against six of the nine, excluding Rafsanjani, who leads a powerful body that can appoint or dismiss Iran’s top authority, the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Interpol notices seek the arrest of a wanted person with a view to extradition but do not force a country to arrest suspects. Iran’s Foreign Minister has said it is determined to preserve its nationals’ rights.
In the 1994 attack, a truck laden with explosives levelled the seven-floor Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) building, a symbol of the country’s Jewish community, Latin America’s largest.
The government in Buenos Aires has repeatedly accused Iran of failing to cooperate in its investigation of the bombing. (Editing by Robert Woodward)
