Ex-Iranian FM shrugs off role in Argentina Jewish center bombing

An adviser to Iran's supreme leader is dismissing accusations that he masterminded Argentina's worst terrorist attack and says that he and the Islamic Republic are innocent.

Ali Akbar Velayati, who was foreign minister of Iran at the time of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, is now an adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Former Iranian officials have been on an Interpol capture list for years, but Argentine prosecutors have never been able to question them. Iran has long denied any role in the unsolved bombing that left 85 people dead.

Velayati said in an interview with Argentina's C5N TV channel broadcast late Monday that he is innocent of the accusation that he masterminded the attack, as is his country. "We believe that this is a baseless accusation, false — a lie."

"Argentina is under the influence of Zionism and the United States," he said.

When asked if he would be willing to go before an Argentine court, Velayati responded that there's no reason why an Iranian official should have to respond to another nation.

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.657143