Argentina, Iran End First Talks on 1994 Attack

Iran said Wednesday it has completed a first round of talks with Argentina on the 1994 bombing of a Jewish aid organization in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and wounded 300.

"On Monday and Tuesday, Iranian and Argentine legal experts held their negotiations about AMIA (the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Aid Association) and agreed to continue negotiations in the future," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.

"The time and the venue of the next round of negotiations will be decided by diplomatic channels," Mehmanparast said in a statement posted on the ministry's website.

The spokesman gave no indication about any progress so far in the discussions, which were agreed on during a September meeting of the two countries' foreign ministers in New York.

Since 2006, Argentine courts have demanded the extradition of eight Iranians, including current Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi and former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, to face charges over the attack.

In the July 18, 1994 attack, a van loaded with explosives detonated outside the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Aid Association, leveling the six-story building housing it.

The bombing, the deadliest attack in Argentina's history, followed a 1991 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires that left 29 dead and 200 wounded.

Iran has always denied any involvement in the attacks.

Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said in September that the talks were to "explore a legal mechanism" for resolving the matter "not in contradiction with the legal systems of Argentina and Iran."

Mehmanparast told a press briefing on Tuesday that Iran "condemns and rejects terrorism charges against its citizens."

He added that Tehran remained "willing to participate in a thorough investigation of the AMIA case to see which ones were really behind" the attack.

"Negotiations will continue until they lead to a clear result," he added.