Argentina Seeks Arrest of Rafsanjani

Argentina Seeks Arrest of Rafsanjani for 1994 Bombing, from Threats Watch -- Prosecutors Ask Judge to Issue Warrants for Former Iranian President, Intelligence Chief, Foreign Minister and IRGC Officers --By Steve Schippert

In a bold move, Argentinean prosecutors have requested Argentine and international arrest warrants for former Iranian president Hashemi Rafsanjani, former intelligence chief, Ali Fallahijan, and former Foreign Minister Ali Ar Velayati as well as several leaders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. All told, the arrest of eight current and former high-ranking Iranian officials are sought for trial by the Argentinean prosecutors currently charged with investigating the 1994 bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed at least 85 and wounded hundreds.

The chief Argentine prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, made it perfectly clear that his team is convinced beyond doubt that the bombing was perpetrated by the terrorist group Hizballah at the direct guidance of the highest reaches of the Iranian government. Nisman said, “We deem it proven that the decision to carry out an attack (on) July 18, 1994, on the AMIA (Argentine Jewish Mutual Association) was made by the highest authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran which directed Hizbollah to carry out the attack.”

A report appearing in The Australian quotes a Hizballah source in reaction from Lebanon saying, “I have not yet heard that but it is not new. The Zionists want that.”

The Israel daily Haaretz reports a summary of Israeli intelligence on the bombing, including its possession of the transcript of the 1994 Hizballah suicide bomber’s farewell phone call home to the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. It reports that it was a 1993 meeting headed by Ayatollah Khameini and included Rafsanjani, at the time Iran’s president, as well as the foreign minister, the intelligence minister and Khameini’s intel & security advisor, Muhamed Hijazi.

Iranian state-run television reported on the Argentinean calls for arrests, but stopped short of naming Rafsanjani, currently the head of the regime’s Expediency Council, or any of the others implicated in the investigation. (MORE)

An interesting move and will be very interesting to see what, if anything, happens. Also from Threats Watch, "Iran Focus has published the names of the Iranian leaders and individuals sought for trial by Argentinean prosecutors".

* Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former Iranian President, currently chairs Iran’s State Expediency Council and is deputy chair of the Assembly of Experts * Hojatoleslam Ali Fallahian, former Iranian Minister of Intelligence and Security * Ali Akbar Velayati, former Iranian Foreign Minister, currently the chief foreign policy advisor to Iran’€™s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei * Major General Mohsen Rezai, former Supreme Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), is currently the secretary of the State Expediency Council * Major General Ahmad Vahidi, former Commander of the IRGC Qods Force, is currently Deputy Defence Minister * Mohsen Rabbani, former cultural attaché at the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires * Ahmad Reza Asgari, alias Mohsen Ranjbaran, former official at the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires * Imad Fayez Mugniyeh, commander of the Shiite Lebanese group Hizballah’s overseas operation, currently believed to be hiding in Iran

Readers should note that the IRGC’s Qods Force is the elite unit responsible for Iran’s foreign terrorist operations, support and training. It is the unit primarily responsible for the founding of Hizballah as well as the current Iranian support for the Iraqi sectarian violence through funding, arming and supporting Muqtada al-Sadr’s Shia Mahdi Army.

Comments

[Debbie]

I don't see any difference. Sounds good to me.

[shlemazl]

Shouldn't the same approach apply as in the case of Lockerby? What's the difference?