Argentine Judiciary Concludes Iran Ordered 90s Terrorist Attacks Against Jewish Community

The Argentine Judiciary determined on Thursday that two terrorist attacks against the Jewish community in the country during the 1990s were ordered by Iran and carried out by Hezbollah.

The Cassation Court, the highest criminal court in the country, said that both the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Argentina in 1992 and of the AMIA Jewish community center in 1994 were a "strategic and political maneuver" by the Middle Eastern country.

The court added that the AMIA bombing, in which 85 people were killed and over 300 injured, was a "crime against humanity," a term that could lead the country to take Iran before international courts.

The attack against the Israeli embassy two years before ended up with 22 people dead and 242 wounded.

Local outlet Infobae reported that DAIA, the Jewish community's main political organization, is considering taking Iran before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

DAIA President Jorge Knoblovits said that "terrorism is coming for all democratic values" and added that it's "key that Argentina's highest court under the Supreme Court determined that the Iranian state planned and financed terrorist attacks."

The Argentine judiciary identified nine Iranian officials who says were involved in the attacks. Among them are Ali Akbar Velayati (then-Foreign Minister), Mohsen Rabbani (then-Cultural Attache of the Iranian Embassy in Argentina) and Ali Akbar Hashemi Bahramaie Rafsanjani (then-President of Iran).

The attacks, especially the AMIA one, have been surrounded by controversy and political opaqueness. In 2015, then-special prosecutor for the case, Alberto Nisman, was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head after claiming that President Cristina Kirchner was involved in a cover-up of the attack.

He was set to testify before Congress on that day and planned to say that Kirchner agreed to cover Iran's responsibility in exchange for trade agreements. The cause of his death was never clarified.