Argentina on Tuesday criticized the presence of a senior Iranian official, which Argentina says was involved in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, at the investiture of Nicaragua’s president.
Argentina’s Foreign Ministry said, according to The Associated Press, that the appearance of Mohsen Rezaei, the Iranian vice president for economic affairs, at the Nicaraguan ceremony on Monday was “an affront to Argentine justice and to the victims of the brutal terrorist attack″ in the Argentine capital.
Rezaei, a former leader of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, is one of several Iranian officials wanted in Argentina for their role in the AMIA bombing, which was carried out through Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah.
Iran denies involvement and has repeatedly rejected Argentine demands for the accused to testify.
In 2012, then-Argentine President Cristina Kirchner signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran that would have established a "truth commission" to investigate the AMIA bombing.
Leaders of Argentina's Jewish community criticized the accord. An Argentine court in 2014 declared the agreement to be unconstitutional.
Rezaei is also known for threatening Israel, having warned in an interview in late 2020 that he has no doubt that if the US attacks Iran, Iran will "raze Tel Aviv to the ground."
He added that Iran has been looking for a pretext to attack Tel Aviv because Israel played a role in the "martyrdom" of IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.
Before that, Rezaei threatened that his country would turn the Israeli cities of Haifa and Tel Aviv "to dust" if the US attacks targets in Iran.