US Congress Marks Anniversary of Argentina Bombing Blamed on Iran

The US House of Representatives has passed a resolution commemorating the July 18, 1994, bombing of the AMIA Jewish Center in Buenos Aires – which killed 85 people – and calling on authorities to apprehend the perpetrators. “The investigations into the AMIA bombing have been marked by long delays and by judicial misconduct, failing thus far to bring justice for the victims, their families, and their community,” said Ted Deutch (D-FL), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa and International Terrorism, and one of four lawmakers who introduced the resolution. “Considerable evidence has linked this heinous attack to the terrorist group Hizbullah and its sponsor, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Deutch added. Indeed, security services identified Ibrahim Hussein Berro, a member of Hizbullah, as the AMIA bomber, and in 2007, Interpol placed numerous Iranian suspects on its most-wanted list. By then, the Argentinian judiciary had appointed prosecutor Alberto Nisman to examine the case, and he quickly reached the same conclusion. Years later, in a formal complaint in 2015, Nisman alleged that former Argentinian president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her foreign minister, Hector Timerman, had attempted to cover up Iranian involvement in the AMIA attack and in another in the capital, a 1992 suicide bombing at the Israeli Embassy that killed 29 people. De Kirchner and Timerman reportedly sought to bury evidence in exchange for Iranian oil. Only days after making the accusation, and on the eve of presenting his findings to the Argentinian Congress, Nisman was found shot dead in his apartment. “Twenty-five years later, Iranian-backed Hizbullah continues to carry out terror operations,” said Deutch. “With this vote, Congress honors the victims of this horrific AMIA attack, recalls the brave work by Alberto Nisman, who lost his life pursuing justice, and calls for full accountability for those responsible. It has been far too long.”