http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/10/27/iran.argentina.ap/
Iran denies role in '94 Argentine blast POSTED: 1412 GMT (2212 HKT), October 27, 2006 TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- The Iranian government rejected as unfounded accusations by Argentine prosecutors that high-ranking Iranian officials were linked to a 1994 Buenos Aires bombing, state-run radio reported Friday. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the Argentine judiciary had produced no evidence to back its accusations. "It is necessary for Argentine officials to make comment based on the evidence," the spokesman was quoted as saying. His comments came as two Argentine special prosecutors asked a federal judge this week to order the arrest of former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani and seven others for the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires that claimed 85 lives and wounded 200 others. Hosseini said the prosecutors' announcement was "propaganda" and "Zionist hype." The announcement aims at diverting public opinion from Israeli crimes in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, Hosseini said. Rafsanjani is now the head of the Expediency Council, which mediates between parliament and the clerics who rule the country. The other officials include a former Iranian intelligence chief, a former foreign minister, two former commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, two former Iranian diplomats and a former Hezbollah security chief. The decision to attack the center "was undertaken in 1993 by the highest authorities of the then-government of Iran," Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman has said. The prosecutors said the Iranians engaged the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to carry out the bombing. They said they suspected that Hezbollah operated outside Lebanon only "under orders directly emanating from the regime in Tehran." Hezbollah, whose members are Lebanese Muslim Shiites, is known to receive funds from Iran, a Shiite-majority country. The Argentine judge responsible, Rodolfo Canicoba Corral, has made no comment. Under Argentine law, he has indefinite time to consider the prosecutors' recommendations. The seven-story Jewish center, a symbol of Argentina's more than 200,000-strong Jewish population, was flattened when a suicide bomber drove up to the building and detonated his explosive-laden vehicle. It has since been rebuilt with greater security. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
