Publish Date: 14 February 2013 - 09:11

Iran Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi says the Islamic Republic and Argentina remain committed to a recent memorandum of understanding (MoU) they signed to investigate the 1994 deadly bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.

“We signed a memorandum of understanding with Argentina to resolve the AMIA (Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina or the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association) case and both sides remain committed to its contents,” Salehi told a news conference in Moscow on Tuesday.

“This MOU sets the base for our handling of the AMIA file,” he added.

“Nineteen years have passed since the AMIA incident. Over this time, huge efforts have been undertaken to close the dossier,” said Salehi.


He expressed hope that the MoU would help shed light on this old file.

On January 27, Salehi and his Argentinean counterpart, Hector Timerman, signed a MoU for the two countries to shed light on the 1994 bombing on the AMIA building in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.

The Israeli regime reacted angrily to the deal a day after it was signed. “We are stunned by this news item and we will want to receive from the Argentine government a complete picture as to what was agreed upon because this entire affair affects Israel directly,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Yigal Palmor, said on January 28.

In a statement on January 30, however, the Argentinean Foreign Ministry said Israel’s demand for explanation over the agreement, described by Argentinean President Cristina Fernandez as “historic,” was an “improper action that is strongly rejected.”

Under intense political pressure imposed by the US and Israel, Argentina had formally accused Iran of having carried out the bomb attack. The Islamic Republic has categorically denied any involvement in the terrorist bombing.
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