President of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, said that Argentina and Iran have agreed to set up an independent truth commission to investigate the 1994 terrorist attack on a Jewish center in Buenos Aires. Foreign Minister of Argentina, Hector Timerman and his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi signed an accord on the issue on the sidelines of the African Union Summit in Ethiopia on Sunday, Fernandez said in her official Twitter and Facebook pages.
Fernandez called the accord "historic" and noted that the five-member commission will be made of "internationally renowned legal experts" from other countries. The president of the commission will be a top international jurist "with high moral standards and legal prestige," Fernandez added. She said the accord may allow the Argentine authorities to question those wanted by Interpol.
On July 18, 1994, a bomb leveled a seven-story building housing the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Aid Association (AMIA), killing 85 people and injuring more than 700 others. In 2006, Argentinean prosecutors accused Iran of masterminding the attack, while Iran denied any involvement.
As an "agreement signed with a foreign power," the document has to be approved by Argentina's Parliament before it comes into into effect, a copy of which will be sent to Interpol, to issue arrest warrants for several Iranian citizens, including former Defense Minister Ahmah Vahidi and the then Ambassador to Argentina Hadi Soleimanpour.