Interpol arrest warrant for Iranian AMIA bombing suspect still in place
Published August 3, 2015
BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — An international arrest warrant against an Iranian suspect in the AMIA Jewish center bombing will not be lifted under the Iran nuclear deal, U.S. officials said.
Iran’s former defense minister, Ahmad Vahidi, is still being sought in connection with the deadly 1994 bombing of the Buenos Aires Jewish center and nothing will change under the agreement between Iran and the world powers, reached last month, according to the U.S. State Department.
“Nothing in the recently concluded Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action, or JCPOA, on Iran’s nuclear program has an impact on or removes the Red Notice for General Vahidi issued by Interpol, in relation to the 1994 bombing in Argentina,” the State Department said in a statement Friday, two days after Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman asked U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry about Vahidi status in a letter. “And we continue to urge the international community and Argentine authorities to do whatever is necessary to hold the AMIA bombers accountable for that atrocity. Vahidi, the IRGC, and its officials will all remain sanctioned in the United States because they were listed for reasons outside the scope of the JCPOA.”
Timerman’s letter also was sent to European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini.
Vahidi is under an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol in connection with the deadly 1994 bombing of the Buenos Aires Jewish center. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that “the E.U.’s planned delisting of Tehran’s former minister of defense, retired Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, is among a group of Iranian military officers, nuclear scientists and defense institutions set to be rehabilitated internationally in the wake of the nuclear accord.”
The State Department added in its response that: “our secondary sanctions will also stay in force which means that foreign banks and companies could be exposed to sanctions if they engage in transactions with these listed individuals.”
The State Department said since Vahidi is not listed under any nuclear-related activities that he will remain on the lnterpol list for eight more years.
Timerman, who is Jewish, in February unsuccessfully asked U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to include the AMIA attack in the negotiations with Iran.
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