Argentina: Investigation into the Role of the Islamic Republic in the AMIA Bombing Should Continue

Javier Milei, the President of Argentina, called for justice for Alberto Nisman and the victims of the terrorist attack a few days after a new report from the Attorney General indicated that Nisman, the prosecutor in the case regarding the role of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the bombing of the Argentine Jewish Center (AMIA), was murdered. Milei stated in a statement that he is confident that the judiciary of the country will continue its investigations into Nisman's murder. He also mentioned that he has submitted a bill to Congress for the absentia trial of the perpetrators of the bombing. Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor in the bombing case at the Jewish community center in Argentina, mysteriously died in January 2015. In this bombing, which occurred in 1994, 85 people were killed and over 300 were injured, with 400 shops and homes damaged. Argentina claims that the Islamic Republic of Iran masterminded this bombing and that the Lebanese Hezbollah executed it. Eduardo Taiano, the Attorney General, reported on January 10, 2024, that the prosecutor in the case was a victim of a 'motivated murder' related to his imminent report on the role of the Islamic Republic in this bombing. Taiano's report highlighted evidence and results from a decade of investigation following Nisman's death, which was initially labeled a suicide. He also emphasized that necessary actions to identify the perpetrators and those who ordered this crime are ongoing. The Attorney General also called for the declassification of documents related to the prosecutor's death. Nisman died four days after he officially accused then-President Cristina Fernández and her government of covering up for the perpetrators of this terrorist attack and two days before presenting his detailed report on this matter. His report accused Argentine officials of failing their duties by negotiating potential immunity for the agents of the Islamic Republic and Hezbollah, who are said to be responsible for the deaths of 85 AMIA victims. One day before Nisman's murder, information and documents related to these negotiations were destroyed in a fire. Eduardo Taiano stated that Nisman's death was staged to appear as if he had committed suicide in his bathroom. He also noted that the Argentine Federal Police, responsible for protecting Nisman, had repeatedly left him unattended for long periods and had left him alone just 12 hours before his death. The U.S. State Department announced on July 19, 2022, on the anniversary of the bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, that 'senior Iranian government officials were directly involved in this attack, and Hezbollah carried it out at the behest of the Iranian regime.' In late April of this year, a court in Argentina attributed the deadly 1992 attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and the 1994 attack on the AMIA Jewish center to the Islamic Republic, accusing the Iranian government of 'crimes against humanity.' According to this court, existing documents prove that the Islamic Republic, in collaboration with Hezbollah, committed the deadliest terrorist incident in Argentine history by bombing the Jewish center (AMIA), and for this reason, the Iranian government is considered a 'terrorist state' and a perpetrator of 'crimes against humanity.' The Islamic Republic has denied any connection to these attacks and has obstructed the interrogation of its former government officials. Concurrently with Raisi's visit to Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Argentina called for the arrest of the Iranian Minister of Interior. A court in Argentina accused the Islamic Republic of 'crimes against humanity.' The controversies surrounding Iran's role in the AMIA bombing case; opponents claim that the Argentine president threatened the prosecutor with murder. Argentina's anger over the appointment of Mohsen Rezaei, another suspect in the AMIA bombing case, as Raisi's deputy: this is 'an insult to the victims.' The Islamic Republic and Hezbollah remain the main suspects in the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Argentina.