Argentina condemns Iran over Vahidi appointment, attack on Israel

Argentina on Sunday condemned the appointment of Ahmad Vahidi as interim commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, highlighting that the military leader has been accused by local courts of involvement in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires.

Vahidi has been accused by Argentina’s Judiciary of being one of the masterminds behind the deadly terrorist attack, which left 85 people dead and more than 300 injured. 

The Iranian official allegedly participated in a 1993 meeting where the decision was made to carry out the bombing.

In a statement posted on social media on Sunday, President Javier Milei’s office criticised both Vahidi’s appointment and Iran’s recent attacks on Israel.

"The Office of the President condemns the vile attack perpetrated by the Islamic Republic of Iran against the State of Israel, through the massive launch of missiles and drones targeting the civilian population," the statement read.

Argentina also said it “repudiates the recent appointment of Ahmad Vahidi – one of the main suspects in the AMIA bombing, which claimed the lives of 85 people – as Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”

Vahidi was appointed provisionally following the reported killing of his predecessor, Esmail Ghaani, in an Israeli airstrike as part of an ongoing campaign targeting Iran’s military infrastructure.

The statement alleged that Vahidi is a military figure “linked to terrorist operations,” who has been the subject of “an international arrest warrant and a red notice from Interpol” since 2007 in connection with the AMIA attack.

According to the late prosecutor prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who led the AMIA investigation before his death in 2015, Vahidi chaired the Iranian leadership group that evaluated and approved the proposal to carry out an attack on Argentine soil in 1994.

Recent Israeli airstrikes have reportedly killed several high-ranking Iranian military officials, including Ghaani and Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of the General Staff.

 The campaign also destroyed missile depots, launchers and command centres, in what Israeli officials described as a preventive operation to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Tehran has denied the allegations.

The sudden escalation has raised fears of a wider regional conflict. Iran has launched several waves of missiles in retaliation, with the Revolutionary Guards warning of “effective, targeted and more devastating operations” to come.

In its statement, Milei’s office described Vahidi’s appointment as “an unacceptable provocation” by Iran towards Argentina and towards all free nations that “defend life and condemn terrorism.”

It noted that AMIA prosecutors have recently renewed calls to allow trial in absentia, arguing that international impunity must not be allowed to block justice.

The memory of the 85 people who lost their lives in the AMIA attack “demands that those responsible be brought to justice, without privileges or international protection,” the statement read.

Last year, a court in Argentina placed blame on Iran for the 1994 AMIA bombing and for a 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, which killed 29 people.

The 1994 assault has never been claimed or solved, but Argentina and Israel have long suspected that the Iran-backed group Hezbollah carried it out at Tehran’s request.

Prosecutors have charged senior Iranian officials with ordering the attack, though Tehran denies any involvement. No-one has been arrested, and the case remains unsolved.

The court also implicated Hezbollah and classified the AMIA bombing as a “crime against humanity”, placing it beyond the statute of limitations despite the passage of time and lack of judicial progress.

Milei, who has expressed a deep personal interest in Judaism and studied Jewish scripture, is one of Israel's staunchest defenders. Since taking office in December 2023, he has reoriented Argentina’s foreign policy. He describes Israel and the United States as his “pillars.”

Argentina is home to the largest Jewish community in Latin America, with some 300,000 members. It also hosts large immigrant communities from the Middle East, particularly from Syria and Lebanon.

– TIMES/PERFIL/NA