Tehran, August 24: The head of an influential committee in Iran’s parliament said he believes the nominee for defense minister will be approved despite accusations he was involved in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Argentina, the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.
The backing of the foreign policy and national security committee raises the likelihood that Gen. Ahmad Vahidi will be confirmed as defense chief in a vote in the full legislature, which is expected to be held on Sept. 1.
His nomination last week by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad angered Argentina, which accuses him of playing a key role in the Buenos Aires bombing. The United States, which has sought to reach out to Iran under President Barack Obama, has also said Vahidi’s presence in the Cabinet would be disturbing.
The chairman of the parliamentary committee, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, said the allegations “will not have any negative impact on the assessment” of the nominee, who is currently a deputy defense minister. “Rather, it may increase his vote” in parliament, he said.
Boroujerdi rejected accusations that Vahidi was involved in the bombing.
Vahidi is one of five prominent Iranians sought by Argentina in the bombing, which killed 85 people. He was the commander of a special unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard known as the Quds Force at the time of the attack. The force is responsible for the Guard’s foreign operations.
On Friday, Argentine Prosecutor Alberto Nisman said Vahidi is accused of “being a key participant in the planning and of having made the decision to go ahead with the attack against the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association.”
Nisman has led the investigation into the July 18, 1994, bombing — Argentina’s bloodiest terrorist attack.
Argentine officials claim Iran orchestrated the attack and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah carried it out. The United States and Israel also say Iran was behind the bombing, but Iran has denied it.
Interpol said in 2007 it would help Argentina seek the arrest of Vahidi and the four other wanted Iranians.
Among the others is Mohsen Rezaei, who ran against Ahmadinejad in the June 12 presidential election and is a former leader of the Revolutionary Guard.
The other wanted Iranians are former intelligence chief Ali Fallahian; Mohsen Rabbani, former cultural attache at the Iranian Embassy in Buenos Aires; and former diplomat Ahmad Reza Asghari.
Interpol had also sought Hezbollah militant Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a car bombing in Damascus, Syria, in February 2008.
Iran has repeatedly denied involvement in the bombing.
“Since 1994, the judiciary of Argentina has failed to provide a single piece of evidence against Iranian diplomats, officials as well as military people,” said Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hasan Qashqavi, according to IRNA.
Qashqavi said Argentina’s judiciary was under pressure from Israel. He also said Argentina’s statements on Vahidi were an unwelcome intervention in Iran’s domestic affairs.
Iran has been embroiled in its worst domestic crisis since the 1979 revolution that brought its ruling theocracy to power. A persistent opposition movement accuses Ahmadinejad of winning a second term in the June 12 election through fraud.
The opposition says at least 69 people were killed in the fierce crackdown on protesters, including some who were abused in custody. The government is also seeking to hobble the dissent by trying more than 140 activists and opposition figures on charges of fomenting the postelection unrest.
In a sign of frustration among some opposition supporters, 293 Iranian journalists and activists appealed in a letter Sunday for opposition leaders to unite and take more practical steps to stop rights violations by the government.
The reformist Web site Norooz said the letter was addressed to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims he was the rightful winner of the election.
The report did not say what specific steps the activists were seeking.
In response to the criticism over human rights, Iran’s parliament plans to debate a bill to allocate $20 million to investigate alleged U.S. human rights abuses against prison detainees, state radio reported Sunday.
If approved, a committee of representatives from several ministries would investigate “human rights violations and torture in U.S. prisons as well as in its secret prisons in Europe,” the report said.
–Agencies