Argentina seeks arrest of Iran Minister over 1994 Jewish centre bombing

Argentina seeks Interpol arrest of Iran's interior minister for 1994 bombing of Jewish center in Buenos Aires.

Argentina has asked Interpol to arrest Iran's Interior Minister over the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people, the Foreign Ministry said on April 23.

The Foreign Ministry said the Iranian Minister, Ahmad Vahidi, was part of a delegation from Tehran visiting Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and Interpol has issued a red notice seeking his arrest at the request of Argentina.

Argentina has also asked those two governments to arrest Mr. Vahidi, it added in a statement.

But Iran's official news agency IRNA reported that Mr. Vahidi was back in Iran on Tuesday, where he attended a ceremony to induct a provincial governor.

An official from Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry told AFP that Mr. Vahidi was not listed as part of an Iranian delegation that arrived in the country on Wednesday.

On April 12, a court in Argentina placed blame on Iran for the 1994 attack against the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires and for a bombing two years earlier against the Israeli embassy, which killed 29 people.

The 1994 assault has never been claimed or solved, but Argentina and Israel have long suspected the Iran-backed group Hezbollah carried it out at Iran's request.