Diplomat: Argentina was advised of possible Iran attacks
By REUTERS
LAST UPDATED: 10/14/2011 07:46
Saudis reportedly warned of plot at the behest of Washington; Iranian plot may have also included plans to attack embassies in Buenos Aires.
Skyline of Buenos Aires, Argentina Photo: Enrique Marcarian / Reuters
MAR
DEL PLATA, Argentina - Saudi officials advised Argentina four months ago
of an alleged Iran-backed plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to
Washington and possibly attack the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Buenos
Aires, an Argentine diplomatic source said on Thursday.
Argentina is home to Latin America's largest Jewish population and a 1992 bombing at the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires killed 29 people. Another 85 people died two years later in an attack on the AMIA Jewish community center, which Argentina has accused Iran of helping to plan.
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"The
Saudis advised us four months ago, at the request of the United States,"
the Argentine source told Reuters on condition of anonymity, without
providing further details.
US authorities announced on Tuesday
that they had thwarted an alleged plot backed by Iran to assassinate
Saudi Arabia's envoy to the United States. Iran called it a fabrication
designed to create tensions with its neighbors.
The US ambassador to Argentina, Vilma Martinez, declined to comment on
the case when queried by Reuters on Thursday at a business seminar in
the coastal city of Mar del Plata.
The Argentine government has made no official statement either, despite
US media reports this week that the South American country was the other
nation targeted.
US President Barack Obama was briefed in June about the alleged plot, soon
after US law enforcement agents were tipped off by a paid informant,
according to court documents.
Argentina has secured international arrest warrants against former and
current Iranian officials it suspects were involved in the attack that
leveled the AMIA building in 1994, which Israel has long pinned on
Hezbollah guerrillas backed by Iran.
Last month, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez publicly urged Iran
to make good on its offer to help investigate the bombing, even though
Tehran insists it played no role in the terrorist attack.