Buenos Aires, Argentina – A federal judge Thursday ordered the detention of former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani and eight others in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center that killed 85 people, the judge’s office said.
A special prosecutor sought the order, alleging that the worst terrorist attack on Argentine soil was orchestrated by leaders of the Iranian government and entrusted to the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah.
Iran’s leading diplomatic envoy in Buenos Aires, Mohsen Baharvand, said his government would oppose any efforts to detain Rafsanjani or other Iranian nationals.
Baharvand, Iran’s charge d’affaires, said the case was politically motivated.
The July 1994 bombing of the Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires killed 85 people and injured more than 200. Investigators say an explosives-packed van was driven up to the building and detonated.
Iran’s government has vehemently denied any involvement in the attack following repeated accusations by the Jewish community and other leaders in Argentina.
