Iran attacks “bitter plot”
Iran has insisted Britain release and publicly apologise for the arrest of Hade Soleimanpour, a former Iranian diplomat, who faces extradition for his alleged involvement in the 1994 Buenos Aires bomb attack.
Iran’s president Ali Mohammed Khatami has personally intervened in the affair, saying the British government ought to end “this incorrect deed.”
He said: “What has happened has been politically motivated. There are forces and lobbies behind the case trying to put the Islamic Republic under pressure by levelling baseless accusations and unfounded allegations against Tehran.”
Elsewhere, he said Iran would not allow this “bitter plot” to come true.
“These false allegations have been made against Iran and are aimed at putting us under pressure. This is not the first time. We have had similar cases in the past. The Islamic government will react very seriously to this. We have announced that we will respond very seriously against Argentina. We have summoned the British charge d’affaires once and he will be summoned again. I stressed that the British government should stop doing this wrong action and formally apologise. We will do our best in order not to let this bitter plot against our country come true.”
Mr Soleimanpour, former Iranian ambassador to Argentina, was arrested in the UK on suspicion of orchestrating the 1994 bombing of community centre for Jews in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in which 85 people died and 200 were left wounded.
Mr Soleimanpour was arrested on Thursday in north-eastern England, where he worked as a research assistant at Durham University.
It is alleged that on or before July 18, 1994, Mr Soleimanpur “did conspire with other persons to murder persons” at the Association Mutua Israelita Argentina (AMIA).
Iran said last week that the arrest was part of an “international Zionism’s plan to manipulate Argentina.”
On Saturday, Iran announced that it would be cutting cultural and economic ties with Argentina.
