Argentina: Iran’s terror-linked VP shouldn’t be traveling the world

Iranian VP, who is wanted for role in deadly bombing at Jewish center, attends inauguration of Nicaragua’s president; Buenos Aires outraged.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

The government of Argentina strongly condemned the Iranian Vice President of Economic Affairs in a statement on Tuesday, questioning why the lawmaker – who is linked to terror and has an active Interpol Red Notice (international arrest warrant) – is able to travel freely around the world.

Mohsen Rezai has been on an Interpol Most Wanted list since 2007 due to his suspected role in the bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires in 1994, for which the Argentinian government has demanded he be charged with aggravated murder. The bombing killed 85 people, with 151 others seriously wounded.

But despite Rezai’s suspected role in the bombing and his open international arrest warrant, he traveled to Nicaragua last week to attend the inauguration of the central American nation’s president, Daniel Ortega.

“Argentina expresses, as it has also done last August before the appointment of Rezai as Vice President….that his presence in Managua [Nicaragua] constitutes an affront to Argentine justice and to the victims of the brutal terrorist attack against the AMIA,” read a statement from the Argentinian government released Tuesday.

The statement reiterated that the South American country “demands once again that the Government of Iran cooperate fully with the Argentine Judiciary, allowing the people who have been accused of participating in the attack against the AMIA to be tried by the competent courts.”

However, some Argentinians accused the government of hypocrisy over the statement, as Argentina did not withdraw from the event and sent a representative to attend, despite Rezai’s presence.

Lawmaker Sabrina Ajmchet slammed the government over the choice to participate in the event, adding that the presence of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and Cuban president Miguel Diaz Canel did not bode well for Argentina’s pro-democracy stance.

“Maduro, Ortega, Díaz Canel and Mohsen Rezai, one of those accused of the AMIA bombing. This is what Argentina’s current diplomacy has been [supporting,]” she told the Buenos Aires Times.

“Tell me who you hang out with and I’ll tell you how you like to do politics. They showed it here: with dictators and terrorists.”

1994 AMIA Jewish centerAMIAAMIA bombingArgentinaIran