An Argentine court has officially declared Iran a “terrorist state” in relation to its alleged involvement in deadly attacks in Buenos Aires over three decades ago, targeting the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish community center, local media reported Thursday.
The ruling, covered by local news outlets, accuses Iran of orchestrating the 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy and the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) center.
The latter has been described as the deadliest attack in Argentina’s history and labeled a “crime against humanity” according to court documents cited by the media.
Carlos Mahiques, one of the three judges who issued the decision, told Radio Con Vos that Hezbollah, backed by Iran, carried out the operation “as part of a political, ideological, and revolutionary plan commissioned by a government, by a state,” referencing Iran.
The 1992 embassy attack left 29 people dead, and two years later, the AMIA center was targeted with a truck bomb, killing 85 individuals and injuring 300.
Although no group claimed responsibility for the 1994 attack, both Argentina and Israel have long maintained that it was executed by the Lebanese Hezbollah at Iran’s behest.
Argentine prosecutors have accused high-ranking Iranian officials of ordering the attack, allegations that Tehran has consistently denied.
Argentina, home to Latin America’s largest Jewish community of about 300,000 people, also hosts significant Middle Eastern immigrant communities, especially from Syria and Lebanon.
The judges on Thursday emphasized that the AMIA bombing constitutes a crime against humanity, directly blaming former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, among other Iranian officials and Hezbollah members, for their involvement.
