PrintDecember 19, 2007
Argentine Bombings Ordered by Iran: Prosecutor
An Argentine prosecutor investigating two bombings, including a Jewish Community Center and the Israeili Embassy, has determined that Iran is behind them:
Iran orchestrated two bombings in Buenos Aires in the mid-1990s, killing more than 100 people, primarily because it was furious over Argentina's cessation of nuclear cooperation with the Islamic Republic, a top Argentinean prosecutor said Tuesday, offering chilling confirmation of the ruthlessness with which Iran has pursued its quest for nuclear capability.As everyone in the world knows by now, Iran stopped trying to develop nuclear weapons in 2003 and it is an open question whether they ever had a nuclear program in the first place.
Dr. Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor who has secured Interpol backing for the arrests of several leaders in Teheran, including former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, for ordering the July 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community offices in Buenos Aires, also urged the international community to pressure Iran into giving up the wanted men for trial.
Nisman said the AMIA blast, in which 85 people were killed, and the bombing of the Israeli Embassy two years earlier, in which 29 people were killed, had been "ordered, planned and financed" by Iran's top leadership. Teheran, he said, was incensed that Argentina, under former president Carlos Menem, had suspended and ultimately stopped what had been close cooperation with the Iranian nuclear program, including the training of nuclear technicians and the transfer of nuclear technology.
At first Teheran tried to cajole Argentina into reconsidering, he said. Then it issued threats. And finally, it employed terrorism.
Yeah - and Santa Claus is coming to town.
Iran had been suspected all along because investigators have uncovered evidence that the attacks were carried out by Iranian proxy Hezb'allah, but a motive for the attack had been lacking. It would seem to be in keeping with the nature of the Iranian regime that they would try to intimidate a former business partner in such a way.
Nisman himself has reported receiving death threats over the case.
The reason for the delay in identifying the perpetrators arises from the previous decade's investigation that tried to obscure Iran's role in the bombings. Several officials connected to that skewed investigation are charged with crimes and will go on trial for obstructing the investigation. Under investigation in the cover up is former President Menem who may have ordered the coverup to hide Argentinian assistance to the mullahs on the nuclear program.
Interpol has issued arrest warrants for several Iranian leaders in connection with the bombings.
