Rafsanjani and Assassinations Abroad

Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran, particularly during Rafsanjani's eight-year presidency, many killings of opponents of the regime both inside Iran and abroad have been attributed to or even directly intervened by Rafsanjani. Among these were the assassination of Shapur Bakhtiar, the last prime minister of the monarchy in the summer of 1991, the killing of Fereydoun Farrokhzad, an Iranian singer and actor in Bonn, Germany in the summer of 1992, and the assassination of the Secretary-General of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan and his companions in the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin in September 1992, all linked to Rafsanjani's presidency. A German court in 1994 listed Rafsanjani alongside Ali Khamenei, the leader of the regime, Ali Akbar Velayati, and Ali Fallahian, the then ministers of foreign affairs and intelligence, as members of the final committee approving the assassinations of the regime's opponents abroad. Rafsanjani's name was also implicated in bombings against Israeli and Jewish targets. The Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, a major supporter of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reported on Rafsanjani's death on January 19, stating that the deadly bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992, like the explosion in 1994 at the Jewish community center in Argentina, was carried out with Rafsanjani's approval while he was president. Since the summer of 1992, when the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires was bombed, resulting in 18 deaths and dozens of injuries, Israel and some agents in Argentina attributed this operation to the Iranian regime and Rafsanjani's agreement with it. Argentina could not find solid evidence regarding Rafsanjani's involvement in the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires. However, Argentina attributed the bombing in the summer of 1994 at the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires as a terrorist act carried out with Rafsanjani's approval. In the AMIA bombing operation, 84 people were killed and about three hundred were injured, and a seven-story building was destroyed. The Argentine prosecutor's office issued an indictment in October 2006 against the then Iranian officials and Hezbollah after 12 years of extensive investigations. The indictment emphasized that the Islamic Republic of Iran had a 'clear influence' over Hezbollah to carry out the Buenos Aires bombing. In March 2007, Argentina issued an international arrest warrant against Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ali Fallahian, and Ali Akbar Velayati, the then ministers of intelligence and foreign affairs during the bombing, as well as several other Iranian officials and Hezbollah members. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had just become president in 2006, found himself in an uncomfortable position as he had to defend his internal rival Rafsanjani against the terrorist accusations made by Argentina. Interpol, the international police, issued an international arrest warrant against Ali Fallahian, Mohsen Rezai, the then commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Ahmad Vahidi, the then commander of the Quds Force, Ahmad Reza Asghari, the former third secretary of the Iranian embassy in Argentina, Mohsen Rabbani, the cultural attaché at the time, and Imad Mughniyeh, the commander of Hezbollah's special operations, while removing Rafsanjani and Velayati from the list. In 2008, Argentina reiterated that Rafsanjani was the highest Iranian official approving the AMIA attack. Despite this, Iran and Argentina agreed in 2013, during the presidencies of Ahmadinejad and Cristina Fernández Kirchner, to form a 'truth-finding committee.' This committee was supposed to examine the evidence and documents of the AMIA explosion, but Israel and the Jewish community in Argentina harshly criticized this agreement, especially since Ms. Kirchner stated in a speech at the UN General Assembly in 2014 that 'investigations have shown that Iran and Hezbollah were not involved in the AMIA explosion.' The situation became more complicated with the death of Judge Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor of the AMIA case, on January 19, 2015, as he was shot dead by unknown assailants just hours before he was to present his report on Ms. Kirchner's role in 'covering up the AMIA investigations' to the Argentine Senate. Ms. Kirchner attributed Nisman's murder to 'rogue elements' within Argentine institutions. Mauricio Macri, the next president of Argentina, stated in March 2016 regarding the bombing of the Israeli embassy and the attack on the Jewish community center, 'The events of those years weakened Argentina in the eyes of the world, and we intend to clarify the facts.' In recent months, Argentina has again requested the extradition of some of the Iranian officials under investigation who are traveling abroad. In July 2016, during Ali Akbar Velayati's trip to Iraq, Argentina requested his extradition for questioning. Isaac Aviran, the Israeli ambassador to Argentina at the time of the AMIA bombing, stated in an interview in January 2014 that 'most of those involved in the AMIA bombing have received their just desserts.' The Haaretz newspaper reported in January 2014 that Aviran's remarks were a 'veiled reference' to the killing of Imad Mughniyeh, the military commander of Hezbollah, who was killed in a blast in Damascus in February 2008. However, the Israeli government officially rejected Aviran's statements and expressed 'complete disavowal' of them.