MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina confirms new round of talks with Iran in January

Timerman and Parrilli announcing there will be a previous meeting with the Jewish community

Argentine Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman confirmed this weekend that there had been new meetings with envoys of the Iranian government over the probe handling the AMIA bombing, and assured that Argentina will present a new action plan in the coming few weeks, most probably in the next meeting scheduled for January.

“In the coming weeks, our country will present an action plan that will be discussed at the next meeting to be held in January,” Foreign Minister Hector Timerman told reporters at the presidential palace.

Timerman added that the action plan “will only be implemented if it complies with Argentine laws and is approved by the Congress,” as he held a press conference along with Presidency Secretary General Oscar Parrilli.

“Next week I will hold meetings with the Jewish community. And possibly be January will reach a defining situation. I believe that when you sit down for talks, one must negotiate”.

Talks with Iran, started on the sides of the latest UN General Assembly, are directed to settle lawsuits related to the 1994 bombing of the Jewish AMIA aid organization in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and injured hundreds and remains unsolved, although evidence points to Teheran sponsored groups.

According to an Argentine Foreign ministry release, the preparatory talks with Iranian officials took place in Switzerland at the end of November, and not this weekend as the Buenos Aires media had speculated.

Timerman has said the first round achieved ”positive results.”

Since 2006, Argentine courts have demanded the extradition of eight Iranians, including current Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, to face charges over the attack.

In the July 18, 1994 attack, a van loaded with explosives allegedly detonated outside the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Aid Association, leveling the seven-floor building housing it. The bombing came two years after another attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires that left 29 dead and 200 wounded.

Iran has always denied any involvement in the attacks.

There are around 300,000 Jews living in Argentina, making it the largest Jewish community in Latin America