Justice in Argentina requests to investigate the Iranian pilot for possible "relationship with international terrorism"

Change the focus of the Argentine investigation to the Venezuelan plane 1:13

(CNN Spanish) --

Argentine federal prosecutor Cecilia Incardona asked the judge in the case to investigate the Iranian pilot of the Venezuelan plane who is being held in Argentina for his possible "relationship with international terrorism," according to the statement from the Prosecutor's Office.

The prosecutor maintains in the document that the FBI reported in a part based on intelligence sources that the Iranian citizen is CEO and member of the board of directors of an Iranian airline sanctioned by the United States Treasury Department, arguing his collaboration with the guard Islamic revolutionary and the Al-Guds Forces, also designated by the US government for alleged terrorist activity.

The pilot is in Argentina, prohibited from leaving the country since Monday the 13th, as is the rest of the crew.

The prosecutor also requested to investigate the rest of the crew, determine if the plane is owned by an Iranian company or the Venezuelan state and if the real purpose of the aircraft's arrival in the country was to transport auto parts or if there was perhaps an act of preparation for a supplier. goods or money that could be used in a terrorist act.

They investigate possible links between the crew member of the Venezuelan plane and Al Quds 2:36

The Iranian government, for its part, maintains that the accusations form part of a psychological operation against that country.

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In Caracas, Diosdado Cabello, vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, assured that it is a "false positive" and said that they are complying with all the procedures to clarify the situation.

Last week, the Paraguayan intelligence official said that one of the crew members of the Venezuelan plane that is being held in Argentina is a person linked to the Quds Forces, of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard of Iran, which in both cases are classified as terrorist groups. by United States.

"According to what we know, and allied agencies confirmed to us, it is a person linked to the Quds. Without any doubt. It is not similar, it is not a homonym or anything, it is the person. And that without any doubt per se already it is worrying," Paraguay's National Intelligence Secretary (SNI), Esteban Aquino, told ABC radio station.

• They investigate five Iranian crew members of a Venezuelan plane that was stranded in Argentina

CNN communicated with the spokesman for the Presidency, the Ministry of Security and the Argentine Federal Intelligence Agency to find out if they have reached this conclusion in their investigations and are still waiting for a response.

At a press conference this Wednesday, the Argentine Security Minister, Aníbal Fernández, had declared that one of the crew would be a "namesake" of a member of Quds.

The plane of the Venezuelan state airline Emtrasur has remained at the Ezeiza International Airport, in the province of Buenos Aires, since June 8.

The ship was recently acquired by Emtrasur from the Iranian airline Mahan Air, according to Argentine authorities.

On May 13, the same aircraft landed at the Guaraní Airport, in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, according to the Minister of the Interior of that country, Federico González.

Emtrasur has not yet responded to CNN's requests for comment.

Amir Hossein Zol-Anvari, manager of Mahan Air's public relations office, confirmed to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) that the plane in question was sold to the Venezuelan company.

"The arrest of the plane whose ownership was transferred a year ago is due to political objectives, the crew has been working for the Venezuelan company and the issue has nothing to do with Mahan Air," he said.

For his part, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Said Khatibzadeh, referred to the incident with the plane and said, according to Agence France Press, that "the last few weeks have been full of propaganda, psychological operations, war of words to provoke a feeling of insecurity (in Iran) and this case is part of that."

Ignacio Grimaldi contributed to this report.