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Argentina seeks arrest of Iranian Supreme Leader for 1994 bombing

Ali Khamenei ‘led the decision to carry out a bomb attack and issued an executive order or fatwa to carry it out’, prosecutor Sebastián Basso said

April 10, 2025 13:21
Argentina bomb Jewish centre
People hold placards with portraits of victims of the terrorist bombing attack against the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community centre that killed 85 people and injured 300 during the commemoration of its 23rd anniversary, in Buenos Aires, July 18, 2017 (Credit: JUAN MABROMATA/AFP via Getty Images)
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Government prosecutors in Argentina have requested a national and international arrest warrant for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei over his involvement in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community centre in Buenos Aries.

Khamenei “led the decision to carry out a bomb attack and issued an executive order or fatwa to carry it out,” the Clarín daily on Wednesday quoted the lead prosecutor in the three-decade old case, Sebastián Basso, as saying.

The request made to a federal court judge is a significant shift from previous investigators in the case who viewed Khamenei as having diplomatic immunity.

The aftermath of the bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) Jewish centre in Buenos Aires (Credit: Wikipedia)The aftermath of the bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) Jewish centre in Buenos Aires (Credit: Wikipedia)[Missing Credit]

Basso took over the case from Alberto Nisman, who was murdered in his Buenos Aries home in 2015, a day before he was to present his findings in the case, which reportedly included incriminating evidence against top Argentine officials at the time over an alleged government cover-up related to the atrocity.