Family members, a big crowd from the local Jewish community and politicians gathered in the place where 19 years ago an attack destroyed the AMIA community centre in downtown Buenos Aires and killed 85 people, Buenos Aires Herald reported.
A joint Argentine-Iran “truth commission” approved by the government promises to move the investigation forward by enabling Argentine prosecutors to travel to Teheran and question high-ranking officials of the Iranian regime on organizing the attack.
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, issued a statement on the 19th anniversary of the 1994 attack “by Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah,” on Thursday.
The statement said: “Almost two decades ago, Iran, through the coordinated efforts of its embassy and its proxy Hezbollah, attacked the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires and the lives of 85 men, women and children, and left over 300 wounded. My heart and prayers go out to the victims’ family members who have had to suffer this grave injustice and I support their efforts to hold those responsible accountable.
“As we mark this anniversary, we are reminded of the danger that the Iranian regime presents not only through its nuclear program, but also through its unrelenting efforts to export its violent extremism into our own Hemisphere. These nefarious intentions were confirmed in a 500-page indictment published in May by Argentina’s Special Prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, which details evidence of Iran’s terrorism activity in various Latin American nations, showing that the AMIA bombing was not an isolated event. This terrorist attack was part of a larger scheme by the Iranian regime to expand its influence and represents a real threat to our national security interests and to regional security.
“The AMIA attack further reminds us of the lengths to which Iran and its proxies are ready, willing, and able to cause destruction and to wantonly disregard human life. I intend to convene a hearing at the end of the month to further investigate the threats posed by the Iranian regime in Latin America.”
Argentine courts have charged eight current and former senior Iranian regime officials over the bombing, including Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former Intelligence Minister, Ali Fallahian, former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and current presidential candidate in upcoming sham election, Mohsen Rezai, former cultural attaché in the regime’s embassy in Argentina Mohsen Rabbani, and Ahmad Reza Asghari, the former third secretary in the regime’s embassy in Argentina.
The Iranian regime’s new president, Hassan Rouhani was on the special Iranian government committee that plotted the 1994 bombing, according to an indictment by the Argentine government prosecutor investigating the case, the Washington Free Beacon reported on June 20.
“Former Iranian intelligence official Abolghasem Mesbahi, who defected from Iran in the late 1990s, testified that the decision to launch the attack was made within a special operations committee connected to the powerful Supreme National Security Council in August 1993.”
“According to the 2006 indictment, Mesbahi testified that Rouhani, who was then serving as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, was also a member of the special committee when it approved the AMIA bombing,” the report said.
“Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei led the special committee, according to the indictment, and Khamenei and Rafsanjani made the ultimate decision to go ahead with the attack.”