MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Iran ready to help investigate 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires of Jewish centre

At least 85 people were killed in the bombing in which according to Argentine prosecutors top Iranian officials were involved

Argentina on Sunday welcomed an offer from Iran to help investigate the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish centre that killed 85 people and which local prosecutors blame on Iranian officials.

Argentine prosecutors say that Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi is among those behind the attack. Iran denies any links to the bombing.

Local newspapers over the weekend carried a news release from the Iranian government offering to start “constructive talks” aimed at “shedding light” on the bombing that levelled the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association building.

“The foreign ministry hopes to receive an official communication from its Iranian counterpart,” the Argentine government said in a statement, which went on to call the overture from Iran “unprecedented and very positive.”

But the AMIA issued a statement saying the organisation did not believe Iran's offer to be sincere. “We know Iran very well and we recognise this as a joke,” the statement said, pointing out that Monday will mark the 17th anniversary of the bombing.

In Teheran the statement was issued on Sunday “a day ahead of the anniversary of the bombing, which took place on July 18, 1994”

For Iran the case of the AMIA attack has remained a mystery for 17 years, and no significant information has been provided by the Argentine government on the main cause of the incident and the real culprits.

According to the Iranian release, “the Islamic Republic of Iran, as one of the main victims of terrorism, condemns any terrorist action, including the AMIA bombing in 1994, and expresses sympathy with the families of the victims of the bombing.

“The Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran expresses regret over the fact that 17 years have passed since the atrocity was committed but the truth about the catastrophe has not been discovered yet and the identities of the real culprits and perpetrators are still unknown.

“The ministry also denounces the fact that the truth about the criminal action has become the target of plots and political games and that Argentine officials at the time, whose illegal actions have been disclosed and convicted by the court in this regard, mislead judicial investigation and set the stage for the escape of real culprits behind the atrocity from the hands of justice through pointing a finger of blame at a number of nationals of the Islamic Republic of Iran. (The ministry) is also dismayed at the continuation of this trend by those who have been serving in the country’s judicial system since the time (of the incident).

“The Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran hopes that it will be able to publish and provide public opinion with a report in order to shed light on the details of this unjust and deviant trend.

“According to the rules of the Islamic Republic of Iran and international law, the Foreign Ministry is obliged to prevent the rights of its nationals from being violated and to defend them against unjust and extremist actions that infringe their fundamental rights.

“Meanwhile, (the ministry) expresses its readiness to cooperate and enter constructive negotiations with the Argentine government to help reveal the realities based on mutual respect and within the framework of law in order to help prevent the continuation of the wrong path of judicial investigation of the case and to help administer justice in a way that suits everyone”