Iran once again revealed to the world the true nature of its regime and the actual intentions of its leadership. It did so by appointing a terrorist wanted by Interpol to be its Minister of Defense.
On Wednesday (19 August), President Ahmadinejad announced that Ahmad Vahidi was nominated to be Iran's defense minister. Perhaps it is only fitting that a terrorist-supporting regime would appoint an internationally-wanted terrorist as its Minister of Defense. Maybe it is entirely appropriate that a Holocaust-denying President would appoint a perpetrator of the largest antisemitic massacre since the Holocaust to his Cabinet. Nevertheless, Iran's promotion of Vahidi to minister of defense should not fail to shock those of good conscience around the world.
Vahidi is no ordinary terrorist. He is one of five prominent Iranians wanted by Interpol for the suicide bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Argentina (AMIA). In that horrific attack in the morning of 18 July 1994, a large part of that building was destroyed, killing 85 innocent Argentinian citizens and wounding 240.
An extensive investigation by Argentina unequivocally determined that the attack was carried out by Hizbullah, with the support of leaders of Iran's government. On Friday (21 August), Alberto Nisman, an Argentinean prosecutor who investigated the attack, said that Ahmad Vahidi is accused of "being a key participant in the planning and of having made the decision to go ahead with the attack" against AMIA. In 2007, Interpol issued a "red notice" placing him on its list of wanted persons, stating that it would help Argentina apprehend Vahidi and four other high-ranking Iranian officials wanted in connection with the attack. In light of the severity of the accusations against him, the European Union saw fit in June 2008 to place a freeze on his personal assets and bar his entry into its member states.
Ahmad Vahidi participated in the Jewish community center attack as the then-commander of Iran's Quds (Jerusalem) Force. The Quds Force is part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, the strongest military-security force in Iran and the primary supporter of the Islamic regime. It is an elite unit, noted for its militancy and strict ideological adherence. The Quds Force is the primary Iranian apparatus for supporting terrorist organizations, carrying out secret operations beyond Iran's borders and operating sleeper networks of terrorists and supporters around the globe.
In recent years, Iran has lowered its profile in directly carrying out terrorist attacks abroad, in order to protect its international image. Nonetheless, it has directed the Quds Force and its intelligence services to establish sleeper cells outside Iran. This will enable Iran, either directly or through Hizbullah, to launch terrorist attacks against Israeli/Jewish or other Western targets, when it believes the time is ripe.
By appointing Vahidi, Iran has demonstrated that it will continue to support international terrorism. At least four nominees (defense, intelligence, interior and oil) have ties to the Revolutionary Guards. Iran today is the largest exporter of terrorism in the world and all signs from the new government demonstrate that it has no intentions of changing.
It is incumbent upon the international community to unequivocally raise its voice against Iran's outrageous appointment of a wanted terrorist to be its Minister of Defense. This sanction and promotion of the murder of innocents is an affront to the victims of Vahidi's heinous crimes, a travesty of justice and a mockery of the fundamental principles of human dignity and the values of the civilized world.
The bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires - July 18, 1994
85 Argentinian citizens were killed in the blast and hundreds more were wounded. It was the single deadliest terrorist attack in the history of Argentina, the home to the largest Jewish community in Latin America. The seven-story AMIA building, the center of Argentina's Jewish communal activities, was totally reduced to rubble.
- Summary of the Argentinian Attorney General's Petition
International arrest warrants were issued in November 2006 by the Argentine court in connection with the AMIA bombing:
MFA Spokesman Yigal Palmor: