BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s government on Thursday branded Hezbollah a terrorist organization and froze its assets, 25 years to the day after a bombing blamed on the Lebanese-based group destroyed a Jewish community center in Argentina’s capital, killing 85 people.

The nation’s Financial Information Unit took the action a day after President Mauricio Macri’s government created a list of terrorist organizations to help coordinate actions with other nations and as the nation held memorial services for victims of the attack, for which no one has been convicted.

The unit noted that Hezbollah has been accused of responsibility for a 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Argentina that killed 29 people, as well as the 1994 attack on the Argentine-Israelite Mutual Association in Buenos Aires. Hundreds were injured in both bombings.

“At the present time, Hezbollah continues to represent a current and active threat to national security and the integrity of the financial, economic order of the Argentine Republic,” the unit said.

It’s not clear how much impact the ruling will have or how many assets Hezbollah might have in Argentina. The group already has been put on terrorism lists by the U.S., the European Union and several other nations.

At midmorning Thursday, sirens resounded across the Argentine capital to honor the 85 people who died the nation’s worst terrorist attack.

Argentine prosecutors blame Iranian officials for plotting the attack and say Hezbollah operatives carried it out. But nobody has been convicted despite years of tangled investigations. Iran has refused to turn over the former officials and ex-diplomats who now face charges, and denies any involvement.

The memorial service began with a moment of silence, followed by a reading of the names of each of the 85 victims.

“How is it possible that 25 years later there has not been a single responsible person imprisoned for this crime against humanity?” asked Ariel Eichbaum, president of the association, which is known by its Spanish initials, AMIA.

“We continue to have questions to which there are still no answers. Twenty-five years have passed and the wound remains open, a wound that cannot be closed without justice,” he added.

The investigation into the attack was plagued with irregularities from the start. A court in 2004 absolves about 20 people who initially had been accused of being the “local connection” for the attack and called for an investigation into a possible coverup by the government of President Carlos Menem, who had left office in 1999.

A court this year cleared Menem of charges he had interfered to protect a friend implicated in the case. But the initial judge in the case, two prosecutors and a former intelligence police chief were found guilty of embezzlement and cover-up in the case.

Another former president, Cristina Fernández, faces trial along with 11 other people on separate charges of cover-up based on a deal with Iran that would have let a special international truth commission question those accused in the case, but with no guarantee they would be arrested. She denies any wrongdoing.

Special prosecutor Alberto Nisman originally brought such charges in 2015, but was found dead of a gunshot wound in his apartment a few days later. No one has been convicted in that case.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was flying to Argentina to attend another memorial service on Friday as well as an international counterterrorism conference.

Associated Press journalist Natacha Pisarenko contributed to this report. </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina's government on Thursday branded Hezbollah a terrorist organization and froze its assets, 25 years to the day after a bombing blamed on the Lebanese-based group destroyed a Jewish community center in Argentina's capital, killing 85 people.

The nation's Financial Information Unit took the action a day after President Mauricio Macri's government created a list of terrorist organizations to help coordinate actions with other nations and as the nation held memorial services for victims of the attack, for which no one has been convicted.

The unit noted that Hezbollah has been accused of responsibility for a 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Argentina that killed 29 people, as well as the 1994 attack on the Argentine-Israelite Mutual Association in Buenos Aires.

"At the present time, Hezbollah continues to represent a current and active threat to national security and the integrity of the financial, economic order of the Argentine Republic," the unit said.

It's not clear how much impact the ruling will have or how many assets Hezbollah might have in Argentina. The group already has been put on terrorism lists by the U.S., the European Union and several other nations.

At midmorning Thursday, sirens resounded across the Argentine capital to honor the 85 people who died the nation's worst terrorist attack.

Argentine prosecutors blame Iranian officials for plotting the attack and say Hezbollah operatives carried it out. But nobody has been convicted despite years of tangled investigations. Iran has refused to turn over the people who now face charges, and denies any involvement.

The memorial service began with a moment of silence, followed by a reading of the names of each of the 85 victims.

"How is it possible that 25 years later there has not been a single responsible person imprisoned for this crime against humanity?" asked Ariel Eichbaum, president of the association, which is known by its Spanish initials, AMIA.

"We continue to have questions to which there are still no answers. Twenty-five years have passed and the wound remains open, a wound that cannot be closed without justice," he added.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was flying to Argentina to attend another memorial service on Friday and attend a meeting of international officials on fighting terrorism.

Associated Press journalist Natacha Pisarenko contributed to this report. </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina's government on Thursday branded Hezbollah a terrorist organization and froze its assets, 25 years to the day after a bombing blamed on the Lebanese-based group destroyed a Jewish community center in Argentina's capital, killing 85 people.

The nation's Financial Information Unit took the action a day after President Mauricio Macri's government created a list of terrorist organizations to help coordinate actions with other nations and as the nation held memorial services for victims of the attack, for which no one has been convicted.

The unit noted that Hezbollah has been accused of responsibility for a 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Argentina that killed 29 people, as well as the 1994 attack on the Argentine-Israelite Mutual Association in Buenos Aires. Hundreds were injured in both bombings.

"At the present time, Hezbollah continues to represent a current and active threat to national security and the integrity of the financial, economic order of the Argentine Republic," the unit said.

It's not clear how much impact the ruling will have or how many assets Hezbollah might have in Argentina. The group already has been put on terrorism lists by the U.S., the European Union and several other nations.

At midmorning Thursday, sirens resounded across the Argentine capital to honor the 85 people who died the nation's worst terrorist attack.

Argentine prosecutors blame Iranian officials for plotting the attack and say Hezbollah operatives carried it out. But nobody has been convicted despite years of tangled investigations. Iran has refused to turn over the former officials and ex-diplomats who now face charges, and denies any involvement.

The memorial service began with a moment of silence, followed by a reading of the names of each of the 85 victims.

"How is it possible that 25 years later there has not been a single responsible person imprisoned for this crime against humanity?" asked Ariel Eichbaum, president of the association, which is known by its Spanish initials, AMIA.

"We continue to have questions to which there are still no answers. Twenty-five years have passed and the wound remains open, a wound that cannot be closed without justice," he added.

The investigation into the attack was plagued with irregularities from the start. A court in 2004 absolves about 20 people who initially had been accused of being the "local connection" for the attack and called for an investigation into a possible coverup by the government of President Carlos Menem, who had left office in 1999.

A court this year cleared Menem of charges he had interfered to protect a friend implicated in the case. But the initial judge in the case, two prosecutors and a former intelligence police chief were found guilty of embezzlement and cover-up in the case.

Another former president, Cristina Fernández, faces trial along with 11 other people on separate charges of cover-up based on a deal with Iran that would have let a special international truth commission question those accused in the case, but with no guarantee they would be arrested. She denies any wrongdoing.

Special prosecutor Alberto Nisman originally brought such charges in 2015, but was found dead of a gunshot wound in his apartment a few days later. No one has been convicted in that case.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was flying to Argentina to attend another memorial service on Friday as well as an international counterterrorism conference.

Associated Press journalist Natacha Pisarenko contributed to this report. </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s government on Thursday branded Hezbollah a terrorist organization and froze its assets, 25 years to the day after a bombing blamed on the Lebanese-based group destroyed a Jewish community center in Argentina’s capital, killing 85 people.

The nation’s Financial Information Unit took the action a day after President Mauricio Macri’s government created a list of terrorist organizations to help coordinate actions with other nations and as the nation held memorial services for victims of the attack, for which no one has been convicted.

The unit noted that Hezbollah has been accused of responsibility for a 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Argentina that killed 29 people, as well as the 1994 attack on the Argentine-Israelite Mutual Association in Buenos Aires.

“At the present time, Hezbollah continues to represent a current and active threat to national security and the integrity of the financial, economic order of the Argentine Republic,” the unit said.

It’s not clear how much impact the ruling will have or how many assets Hezbollah might have in Argentina. The group already has been put on terrorism lists by the U.S., the European Union and several other nations.

At midmorning Thursday, sirens resounded across the Argentine capital to honor the 85 people who died the nation’s worst terrorist attack.

Argentine prosecutors blame Iranian officials for plotting the attack and say Hezbollah operatives carried it out. But nobody has been convicted despite years of tangled investigations. Iran has refused to turn over the people who now face charges, and denies any involvement.

The memorial service began with a moment of silence, followed by a reading of the names of each of the 85 victims.

“How is it possible that 25 years later there has not been a single responsible person imprisoned for this crime against humanity?” asked Ariel Eichbaum, president of the association, which is known by its Spanish initials, AMIA.

“We continue to have questions to which there are still no answers. Twenty-five years have passed and the wound remains open, a wound that cannot be closed without justice,” he added.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was flying to Argentina to attend another memorial service on Friday and attend a meeting of international officials on fighting terrorism.

Associated Press journalist Natacha Pisarenko contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentinian authorities designated Hezbollah, which it blames for two attacks on its soil, a terrorist organization on Thursday and ordered the freezing of the Lebanese Islamist group’s assets in the country.

The announcement coincided with a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as Argentina marks the 25th anniversary of the deadly bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in which 85 people died. Argentina blames Iran and Hezbollah for the attack. Both deny any responsibility.

Argentina also blames Hezbollah for an attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 that killed 29 people.

The Argentine government’s Financial Information Unit, ordered the freezing of assets of members of Hezbollah and the organization a day after the country created a new list for people and entities linked to terrorism.

“At present, Hezbollah continues to represent a current threat to security and the integrity of the economic and financial order of the Argentine Republic,” the unit said in a statement.

The freezing of assets automatically places Hezbollah on Argentina’s registry, designating it a terrorist organization, a government source with direct knowledge of the action confirmed. The designation is the first by any country in Latin America.

Last year, Argentina froze the assets of 14 members of the Barakat Clan, an extended family that officials say has close ties to Hezbollah.

U.S. and Argentine officials say Hezbollah operates in what is known as the tri-border area of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, where an illicit economy funds its operations elsewhere.

It is not yet clear whether Argentina’s new designation will lead to other concrete actions against Hezbollah in the area, but some kind of U.S. security support, including increased intelligence sharing, could follow, said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Wilson Center’s Argentina Project in Washington.

Argentina’s decision to join the United States in designating Hezbollah a terrorist group is a significant win for President Donald Trump’s administration and could put pressure on Brazil and Paraguay to follow suit, Gedan said.

The United States, looking to revive a security relationship that suffered after a souring in diplomatic ties during the previous administration of President Cristina Fernandez, views President Mauricio Macri as a partner, particularly as traditional European allies have been slower to offer support amid U.S. tensions with Iran.

“Clearly, they are not a good replacement for European allies, because they don’t engage Iran significantly, so they cannot put on the same commercial and economic pressure as the Europeans,” Gedan said of Washington’s allies in Latin America.

“But at least it gives the impression that the Trump administration is not standing alone,” he said, adding that the United States put significant pressure on Argentina to prepare the announcement in time for Pompeo’s visit.

Other U.S. allies that designate Hezbollah or its military wing a terrorist organization include Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the European Union and Israel.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz was quick to praise Argentina’s action, tweeting that Israel welcomed Macri’s “important decision” to recognize Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

“The entire world must unite in the struggle against the terror activities by Iran and its proxies,” Katz added.

Argentina’s investigation into the 1994 truck bomb attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA), meanwhile, has made little progress. No one has been brought to trial in either that case or the Israeli embassy bombing. </s> Argentina designated the Iranian proxy organization Hezbollah an “Entity Tied to Acts of Terrorism” this week in anticipation of the anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) headquarters Thursday, at its time the deadliest terrorist attack in the modern history of the Western Hemisphere.

The 1994 AMIA bombing – the second against an Israeli target in Argentina in as many years, believed to have been orchestrated by the same actors tied to the Iranian regime – remains the second-deadliest attack in the hemisphere’s history after the al-Qaeda attacks on September 11, 2001, killing 85 people between five and 73 years old.

Argentina’s Financial Information Unit (UIF) added Hezbollah to its Public Registry of Persons and Entities Tied to Acts of Terrorism on Wednesday, which freezes the organization’s assets and any assets that Hezbollah’s leaders may have stashed in the country. UIF chief Mariano Federici called Hezbollah “a current and active threat” to the Argentine homeland.

Argentina’s Public Registry of Persons and Entities Tied to Acts of Terrorism was only one day old when the UIF added Hezbollah to it. Macri created it on Tuesday to help the Ministry of Justice more easily keep funds out of terrorists’ hands. Buenos Aires’ announcement of the new registry also stated it would “allow access to and exchanges over information on people and entities tied to acts of terrorism and/or their financing and facilitate domestic and international cooperation to prevent, combat, and eradicate terrorism and its financing.”

Macri led an observance ceremony on Thursday for the victims of the AMIA attack, calling for those responsible to “be judged on Argentine soil,” for Interpol not to withdraw its red alerts, and “for no other country to give them diplomatic immunity,” which some of the suspects have received from Iran. In reporting on the new Hezbollah terrorist designation, Iranian’s state-run PressTV once again refuted any involvement in the attack, calling Argentina’s evidence “trumped-up charges.”

“Argentina accuses the Lebanese movement of carrying out the bombing, an allegation that Hezbollah describes as ‘categorically false,'” PressTV noted. “However, Buenos Aires has so far failed to provide substantial evidence and prove that Hezbollah was behind the attack.”

Through the work of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman, authorities in Buenos Aires identified multiple Hezbollah and Iranian government officials as the culprits of the attack, successfully securing six Interpol red notices in 2007, which advise governments to arrest the men if they enter their respective territories. Nisman was found dead with a gunshot wound in his head in January 2015, the night before he was scheduled to present to the Argentine Congress a 300-page report accusing then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of protecting the AMIA culprits in exchange for favorable trade deals with Iran.

Police have not arrested, or even identified, anyone tied to Nisman’s death. In the immediate aftermath of his shooting, Fernández’s top prosecutor ruled the death a “suicide,” triggering widespread national protests against the socialists in power.

This week, the Argentine newspaper Clarín revealed that, according to intelligence documents, many of the same Hezbollah members and Iranian agents tied to the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Argentina also participated in the AMIA bombing, taking advantage of lax border security measures in the South American country to smuggle explosives into the capital.

“All of the Hezbollah jihadist activists and logistics operatives left the country after that terrorist attack,” Clarín noted. “And they returned. The same ones. … the bombs were different but manufactured by the same person.”

The newspaper identifies Hezbollah bombmaker Malek Obeid as the “engineer” behind the attacks. According to Nisman’s investigations, Hezbollah targeted Argentina because Buenos Aires failed to deliver on an agreement to sell nuclear weapons materials to Tehran.

Current President Mauricio Macri, a conservative, won the 2015 election largely on his promise to bring both the AMIA terrorists and Nisman’s killers to justice. His first act as president was to cancel a “memorandum of understanding” with Iran that Fernández had signed limiting investigations on the AMIA bombing.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has offered Macri its full backing in bringing Iran to justice. In a statement honoring the victims of the AMIA bombing, the U.S. Department of State categorically described the attack as being “perpetrated by Hizballah at the direction of the Iranian regime” and said it “targeted the Jewish community and affected all those who support democratic values.”

“We remind the world that, while Argentine authorities continue their work to bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice, the Iranian regime has yet to cooperate fully with them,” State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a statement, adding that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would attend an anti-terror event in Buenos Aires this weekend.

In Congress, Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) sent a letter Thursday to Attorney General William Barr urging the Department of Justice to do more to enforce the Interpol red alerts against the suspected AMIA jihadists.

“While the red notices remain valid, however, INTERPOL member states have not acted on them with sufficient urgency for the previous 12 years,” the senators wrote. “Despite international recognition that these Iranian officials were the masterminds of the AMIA bombing, they continue to hold positions of responsibility in the Iranian government, engaging in or supporting troubling malign activity worldwide.”

“We therefore urge the Department of Justice to support Argentina each time one of the implicated Iranian individuals in question travels outside of Iran. This is an important action that the U.S. can take to ensure Iran is not able to engage in terrorism with impunity, even 25 years after an attack,” the senators wrote. </s> This has been disputed by Iran and by independent experts who say negotiations over the contract were still ongoing at the time of the bombing and it did not make sense for Tehran to bomb a target in Argentina.

The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo is visiting Argentina this week to mark the 25th anniversary of the bombing at the Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) centre in Buenos Aires on 18 July 1994. The attack killed 85 members of Argentina's Jewish community, the sixth largest in the world.The decision to outlaw Hezbollah in Argentina - based on a request from the US and Israel - comes amid rising tensions between the US, the UK and Iran after a series of accusations and counter-accusations, which started with the US alleging Iran had bombed of oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in May, which Tehran vehemently denied.The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo is heading to Argentina for meetings with President Macri and after the commemoration ceremony he will attend theAt the Santiago ceremony Adrián Werthein, President of the Latin American Jewish Congress, said:Several of those accused of involvement in the AMIA bombing remain influential in Iran - Ali Fallahijan served on Iran's influential Assembly of Experts until 2016, Mohsen Rezai, is a senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and Ahmad Vahidi is president of Iran's Supreme National Defence University.At 9.53am on 18 July 1994 a Renault Trafic van packed with 275 kilograms of explosives was driven into the front of the AMIA building in the centre of Buenos Aires, killing 85 people including the van's driver, who has never been conclusively identified.Eight days after the bombing, a car bomb went off outside the Israeli embassy in London, injuring 14 people.Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and the FBI both claim the Buenos Aires van driver was Ibrahim Hussein Berro, 21, a Hezbollah operative from Beirut​[Tweet: "Macri declares Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation 25 years after The AMIA bombing"]The Argentinian judge in charge of the investigation, Juan Jose Galeano discovered the Renault Trafic van which contained the bomb had been sold by Carlos Telleldin, a dealer in stolen auto parts.But Judge Galeano was supposedly encouraged to investigate the "local connection" -Telleldin had reportedly received a phone call a few days before the bombing from Syrian-born Alberto Kanoore Edul, whose parents were friend of President Menem, who was also of Syrian origin.It was claimed Edul had the phone number of Moshen Rabbani, a cultural attache at the Iranian Embassy in Buenos Aires, in his contacts book.while Rabbani returned to Iran after the bombing.Syria and Iran have been allies for many years - ever since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 when Syria's then President Hafez Assad saw in Iran a natural ally against Israel as well as Iraq.Former President Menem, now 88, was cleared of meddling in the investigation.The AMIA bombing was not out of the blue.In March 1992 a car bomb had gone off outside the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 people.In 2003 Argentina requested Interpol served red notices on 12 Iranians and the agency agreed but the notices were cancelled in 2005 because of alleged misconduct by the judge investigating the bombing.against Ali Fallahijan, Mohsen Rabbani, Ahmad Reza Asghari, Ahmad Vahidi, Mohsen Rezai and Imad Moughnieh, but he was killed in a car bombing in Damascus in 2008.In 2013 Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez Kirchner signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran, which would create a "truth commission" to get to the bottom of the AMIA bombing.An Argentinian report into the 1994 bombing, compiled by prosecutor Alberto Nisman in 2006, stated:Nisman claimed Iran had targeted the Jewish community in Argentina because it was angry Buenos Aires had decided to suspend a nuclear technology transfer contract.The debate about whether it was murder or suicide continues in Argentina to this day.[Tweet: "Carlos Telleldin, key man in the AMIA bombing, defends a family killed for an inheritance."] ​But Pablo Duggan, author of Quien Mato a Nisman? (Who Killed Nisman?), said his research has undermined the claims of Iranian involvement.Mr Duggan told Sputnik in March this year:​[Tweet: "Today begins the trial of Carlos Telleldi for the attack on the AMIA. Active Memory is part of a unified file with other family groups. The trial can be followed online here."]Mr Duggan said:Whatever the truth of the matter, nobody has been brought to justice for either the 1992 or the 1994 bombings and Iran still stands innocent until proven guilty. </s> Macri, en julio de 2016, en el acto por las víctimas de la AMIA Crédito: Presidencia

La agrupación libanesa fue acusada de atentar contra la AMIA hace 25 años; el endurecimiento de las sanciones es un pedido de EE.UU. e Israel; el Gobierno descarta por ahora hacer intervenir al Congreso

Jaime Rosemberg SEGUIR Comentar Me gusta Me gusta Compartir E-mail Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Guardar 9 de julio de 2019

El gobierno de Mauricio Macri prevé definir por decreto un nuevo listado de grupos terroristas que incluya a la organización proiraní Hezbollah por su participación en los atentados contra la embajada de Israel y la AMIA . Estados Unidos e Israel hicieron un pedido conjunto a la Argentina para que califique de terrorista a la agrupación libanesa.

La decisión implicaría un endurecimiento de las restricciones políticas y financieras de los miembros de Hezbollah en territorio argentino. Concretar la idea por la vía del decreto es actualmente la alternativa que cosecha mayores adhesiones en el Gobierno.

El secretario de Estado norteamericano, Mike Pompeo, aterrizará el próximo martes en Buenos Aires para una visita de menos de 48 horas, durante las cuales se reunirá con Macri y rendirá homenaje a las 85 víctimas de la AMIA, a 25 años del ataque terrorista en la sede de la calle Pasteur.

El endurecimiento de la postura ante Hezbollah aparece asociado a la visita del funcionario de Trump e implica un giro clave en la política exterior.

"Estamos evaluando alternativas, y una de ellas es la de un decreto", coincidieron ante LA NACION fuentes del Ministerio de Seguridad que encabeza Patricia Bullrich y la Unidad de Información Financiera (UIF), de Mariano Federici, encargados de buscar "la vía más rápida" para incluir a Hezbollah, organización con sede y accionar político en el Líbano, en la lista de organizaciones que promueven el terrorismo. Quedó desechada, por ahora, la vía de una ley del Congreso que delegue en el Poder Ejecutivo esa inclusión, y que repara el vacío legal existente en la materia.

"No tenemos mayoría en el Parlamento, y tardaría demasiado en salir", explicaron altas fuentes gubernamentales. Por eso, la idea es generar un registro propio de organizaciones terroristas, más allá del que ya tiene en vigencia la ONU, y con el cual la Argentina se ha regido hasta el momento.

El jueves, el jefe de Gabinete, Marcos Peña, se refirió al tema y dejó abierta la posibilidad de encontrar una fórmula para apuntar a Hezbollah, en coincidencia con la visita del canciller de Trump y un nuevo aniversario del ataque, perpetrado el 18 de julio de 1994. "A lo largo de los días hacia el aniversario iremos trabajando distintos temas (...) En el momento que se tome una decisión se comunicará, es un tema que tiene diversas complejidades, pero de aquí al 18 de julio serán varias las cosas que iremos contando y haciendo para honrar la memoria de las víctimas y dejar claro el lugar de la Argentina en su lugar en el concierto internacional", afirmó Peña ante una pregunta de LA NACION en la conferencia de prensa que siguió a la reunión de gabinete ampliado encabezada por el presidente Mauricio Macri en el CCK.

En 2003, la Justicia argentina culpó a Irán de estar detrás del ataque a la AMIA y a Hezbollah por su ejecución. En 2006 fue el Estado argentino el que acusó a Teherán por el ataque y solicitó a Interpol la búsqueda de ocho funcionarios y exfuncionarios del régimen iraní por su presunta responsabilidad en el atentado. Desde el Gobierno destacaban que la eventual creación del registro y la inclusión de Hezbollah deberá necesariamente pasar por el tamiz de la mesa que integran, además de la UIF y el Ministerio de Seguridad, las Fuerzas Armadas y de Seguridad, que estarían habilitadas a perseguir a esa organización. "En última instancia, quien decide es el poder político", resumió un alto funcionario.

Endurecimiento

La llegada de Pompeo coincide con el endurecimiento en las relaciones entre Estados Unidos e Irán. "La última expansión del programa nuclear de Irán llevará a más aislamiento y más sanciones", dijo el propio Pompeo anteayer, enojado por la continuidad del programa de enriquecimiento de uranio por parte de Teherán. Trump, que jugó fuerte en el tablero de Medio Oriente con el traslado de la embajada norteamericana a Jerusalén, considera a Irán "el mayor peligro para el mundo". La idea de Pompeo es que Brasil y Paraguay también se sumen a la ofensiva contra Irán.

Israel, por su parte, también renovó recientemente sus pedidos públicos al Estado argentino para que limite la actividad de Hezbollah en el país. "En estos tres años (de gestión) no conseguimos traer justicia a los sobrevivientes ni a los familiares de los dos atentados. Veo esto como un error, una falla a nivel global y personal (...) Hezbollah no es considerada una organización terrorista en la Argentina, si alguien quiere poner una bandera de Hezbollah en la puerta, es legal. Si quiere donar plata, también es legal. Irán, el país que hizo los atentados, todavía sigue teniendo su embajada en Palermo, y el embajador iraní, parte del aparato terrorista, sigue yendo a eventos", afirmó el embajador israelí Ilán Sztulman, a principios del mes pasado y a punto de finalizar su gestión diplomática en el país.

Irán y Hezbollah serán tema de la cumbre de antiterrorismo organizada por la Cancillería en el Palacio San Martín, de la que Pompeo tomará parte el viernes 19. El secretario de Estado norteamericano no estará -por cuestiones de seguridad- en el acto conmemorativo del día anterior en la calle Pasteur, pero sí rendirá homenaje a las víctimas del atentado en la plaza seca del edificio comunitario, junto al canciller Jorge Faurie y el actual titular de la AMIA, Ariel Eichbaum.

El presidente de la AMIA también se sumó a las voces que piden condenar a Hezbollah en el país. "Estamos teniendo avances en Inglaterra y Estados Unidos con Hezbollah siendo declarada como organización terrorista, y ahora esperamos que la Argentina adopte una medida en tal sentido. Las naciones no pueden tolerar de ninguna manera que el terrorismo tenga fuentes de financiamiento en sus países", dijo Eichbaum ayer a la Agencia Judía de Noticias.

Desde el Gobierno aseguran que el registro no incluirá organizaciones nacionales, como los RAM de Neuquén o los grupos anarquistas que protagonizaron ataques en noviembre pasado. </s> BUENOS AIRES, July 13 — Argentina has asked Russia to arrest former Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati for extradition in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, the foreign ministry said yesterday.

Velayati is in Russia as a special advisor to President Hassan Rouhani and will travel to China today, so the same request has also been made to Chinese authorities, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Argentina is awaiting a response from Russia to the request, which was made “within the framework of the extradition treaty between the two countries,” the statement said.

Velayati was foreign minister when a bomb destroyed the headquarters of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) on July 18, 1994 leaving 85 dead and 300 people wounded.

He is charged with “committing the crime of homicide, classified as doubly aggravated for having been committed with racial or religious hatred and a suitable method to cause widespread danger,” according to the judge responsible for the case.

Lebanon’s Shiah Hezbollah group is accused of the carrying out the bombing of the Jewish center and an attack on Israel’s embassy in Buenos Aires two years earlier at Iran’s demand. — AFP
Argentine President Mauricio Macri issues a decree declaring Hezbollah a "terrorist organization".