Argentina’s efforts to arrest Iranian minister on Pakistani visit

Argentina’s foreign ministry asked Interpol on Tuesday to arrest Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.

In a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was said that Minister Ahmed Wahidi is part of the Iranian delegation visiting Pakistan and Sri Lanka and Interpol has issued a red alert for his arrest at the request of Argentina.

The statement said that Argentina has also demanded the arrest of Waheidi from these two governments.

On April 12, an Argentine court charged Iran with the 1994 attack on the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires and the bombing of the Israeli embassy two years earlier. 29 people were killed in the attack on the Israeli embassy.

No one has ever claimed responsibility for the 1994 attack, and the case has never been solved, but Argentina and Israel have long suspected that the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah carried out the attack at Iran’s behest.

Prosecutors have accused senior Iranian officials of ordering the attack, but Tehran has denied involvement in the attack.

The court also blamed Hezbollah and called the attack against AMIA the deadliest attack in Argentina’s history and a ‘crime against humanity’.

“Argentina seeks the international arrest of those responsible for the 1994 AMIA attack who hold their positions with absolute immunity,” the Argentine Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. 85 people were killed in this attack.

The Foreign Ministry statement, also signed by the Ministry of Security, said that “one of them is Ahmed Wahidi, who Argentina has identified as one of the perpetrators of the attack on AMIA.”

About 300,000 Jews live in Argentina, a country in Latin America. Immigrants from the Middle East, especially Syria and Lebanon, also live here.

Iranian President Brahim Raisi has arrived in Sri Lanka after completing his visit to Pakistan on Wednesday, but Interior Minister Ahmed Wahidi was not with him.

According to the news agency AFP, Interpol has issued a red notice in which police agencies around the world are requested to detain Ahmed Wahidi.

Argentina has also asked Pakistan and Sri Lanka to arrest Ahmed Wahidi.

However, Ahmad Wahidi has not been seen since the arrival of the Iranian President along with his delegation to Sri Lanka. About him, the Iranian news agency IRNA says that he returned to Iran on Tuesday, where he participated in the appointment ceremony of the new provincial governor.

On the other hand, an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka has told AFP that the name of the Minister of Interior was not included in the list of people included in the Iranian delegation.