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Photo: LISI NIESNER / REUTERS
After Ahmad Wahidi was nominated as the new Iranian interior minister, the Argentine government sharply criticized the personnel decision from Tehran.
According to Argentine investigators, the former commander of the Al-Kuds Brigades was one of the masterminds behind the severe bombing in 1994 on the Amia Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, in which 85 people were killed.
"Wahidi's nomination for an office in the Iranian government is an affront to the Argentine judiciary and the victims of the brutal terrorist attack on the Amia," said a statement by the Argentine Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.
The special prosecutor for the investigation into the attack, Alberto Nisman, had named Wahidi and six other Iranian politicians and officials as the perpetrators of the attack.
In early 2015, Nisman was discovered shot dead in his apartment.
Argentina has obtained a red alert against Wahidi at Interpol and is demanding his arrest and extradition.
"The Argentine government once again calls on the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to cooperate fully with the Argentine judiciary and allow the people accused of involvement in the Amia bombing to be tried by the competent courts," it said in the communication from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi named Wahidi as the country's new interior minister on Wednesday.
Confirmation from Parliament is still pending, but according to observers it is considered certain.
Wahidi was defense minister in the government of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad between 2009 and 2013.
mjm / dpa