Argentinian Prosecutor: Kirchner Covered Up Iran's Role in AMIA Bombing

"Alberto Nisman", the prosecutor of Argentina, has accused the country's president, Ms. "Cristina Fernández Kirchner", of covering up Iran's role in the bombing 20 years ago at the Jewish center known as AMIA and has called for her interrogation. In the explosion in the summer of 1371 (July 1994), 85 people were killed and over 300 were injured, and a seven-story building was destroyed. According to Reuters and Associated Press, the Argentinian prosecutor stated in a complaint that the president of Argentina, in an agreement signed two years ago with the Iranian government for a 'joint investigation', sought to cover up the role of Iranian officials at the time regarding that explosion. This claim by Alberto Nisman was made public on Wednesday, January 24. Reports indicate that the Argentinian prosecutor suspects that the president of this country, by signing the agreement with Iran, sought to obtain a $7 billion energy deal from the Iranian government in exchange for selling food to Iran and to benefit from Iranian oil. In his accusations, the Argentinian prosecutor also mentioned 'Hector Timerman', the foreign minister of the country, as someone who had promised to assist Ms. Kirchner in covering up Iran's role. Media reports say that the Argentinian prosecutor's office had been wiretapping Ms. Kirchner and her foreign minister for a long time. The foreign minister of Argentina on January 25 labeled the accusations made by the prosecutor's office as 'absurd' and 'baseless'. According to Reuters, Aníbal Fernández, the head of the Argentinian presidency office, also rejected the claims but added that these allegations could create 'problems' for the president. Ms. Kirchner's government signed an agreement in January 2013 with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government, under which Iran agreed to allow the Argentinian prosecutor's office to contact Iranian officials for further investigation into the AMIA explosion and to send a delegation to Iran. Ms. Kirchner later stated in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in 2014 that her country's investigations 'have shown' that Iran had 'no role' in that bombing. The president of Argentina also stated in that speech that Hezbollah is not a small and insignificant organization. Ms. Kirchner's opponents declared the agreement reached with Iran as 'unconstitutional' through an Argentinian court, but Ms. Kirchner's government appealed this ruling through the Court of Appeals. Israeli officials have attributed the AMIA explosion and the explosion two years prior at the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires, which resulted in 29 deaths and dozens of injuries, to Iran, claiming that Iran had delegated the execution of the bombings to Hezbollah. In a lengthy investigation lasting nearly 20 years, Argentina has officially accused Iran of involvement in this explosion three times, but Iran has always denied the allegations. In this context, the Argentinian court ruled to dissolve the AMIA truth-finding committee; Iran protested. Israel denied the assassination of those involved in the AMIA explosion. 'The killing of most of the perpetrators' of the AMIA explosion was attributed to Israel. An Israeli minister stated that all Iranian embassies are terrorist bases.