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Argentina Seeks Extradition of Iran ex-Minister over Bombing | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Iranian ex-foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati. Ebrahim Noroozi/AP


Buenos Aires-An Argentinian judge has issued another extradition warrant for Iranian ex-foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati over the deadly bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires in 1994, the government said.

Investigating Judge Rodolfo Canicoba asked Baghdad to extradite Velayati, who is on the Interpol wanted list, since he is currently on Iraqi soil.

He asked Iraq to arrest Velayati “in order to extradite him, after learning via the international press that the accused travelled to Baghdad” on Wednesday, the Argentine justice ministry said in a statement.

In July Argentina issued a similar warrant to Singapore and Malaysia after learning Velayati was on a lecture tour to those countries.

Argentine investigators accuse Velayati and four other Iranian former officials, including ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, of orchestrating the July 18, 1994 car bombing at the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association in Buenos Aires.

The Iranians allegedly ordered the Lebanese so-called Hezbollah to carry out the bombing, the deadliest terror attack in the South American country’s history.

Iran, which denies involvement, has repeatedly rejected Argentine demands for the accused to testify.

Velayati rejected the accusations in an interview last year with Argentine television channel C5N.

He said the allegations that Tehran was behind the attack that killed 85 people and injured 300 are “unfounded, false” and a “lie.”

But the bombing unveils the crimes carried out by Iran in different parts of the world since the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

Iran is known to spread strife in the region’s countries and cause instability, in addition to violating international rules, agreements and treaties.

An official at the Saudi Foreign Ministry has previously said that Iran’s policy is based on exporting the Iranian Revolution in a clear violation of the sovereignty of states.

Tehran also seeks to interfere in the internal affairs of countries and mobilizes militias in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

The source accused Iran of supporting terror and spreading terrorist cells in different Arab countries.

The official added that Tehran has carried out assassinations of opposition figures abroad and has pursued foreign diplomats through attempted murders.