More than three decades after the 1994 bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina, a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentine prosecutors are seeking indictments against 10 suspects, including Ahmad Vahidi, who was recently appointed the new leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Federal prosecutor Sebastián Basso requested the indictments, the Buenos Aires Herald reported on March 5, in connection with the bombing that killed 85 people and wounded more than 300 on July 18, 1994. The attack remains the deadliest terrorist incident in Argentina’s history.
Argentine investigators concluded that the bombing was carried out by the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah with support and direction from the Iranian government.
Among the suspects is Vahidi, who served as commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 1994. Argentine authorities say he played a role in planning the attack, and he remains the subject of an Interpol red notice issued at Argentina’s request.
The 10 suspects—seven Iranians and three Lebanese nationals—have long been considered fugitives. Argentina has issued international arrest warrants and sought their extradition from Iran and Lebanon, but none have been handed over to face trial.
Basso said he hopes to hold a trial “in absentia as soon as possible, and show society the evidence gathered by the Argentine State over the last thirty years.”
The American Jewish Committee stated that Vahidi “has been widely identified as one of the key figures behind the deadliest terrorist attack against Jews until Oct. 7.”
“Ever since that heinous 1994 terror attack, AJC has called for justice for the 85 people murdered. Now, one of the main perpetrators is in control of the Iranian regime’s terror arm,” the group stated.
AJC warned that Iran’s terrorism activities have “led to the murder of innocent civilians from Buenos Aires to Europe and throughout the Middle East.”
“We remember the victims of AMIA, we continue to seek justice for them, and reaffirm the urgent need for the international community to confront the regime’s ongoing campaign of terror,” the group stated.
