The Argentine government has requested Interpol to issue a red alert for the arrest of Iran's Interior Minister in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people.
The foreign ministry disclosed its request on Tuesday while Ahmad Vahidi is traveling as part of a presidential delegation visiting Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The bombing at the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) is among the deadliest terrorist attacks in Argentina and remains unresolved, with the involvement of the Iran-backed group Hezbollah suspected by both Argentina and Israel.
Following recent court findings that officially implicated Iran and Hezbollah in the attack, the Argentine government is intensifying efforts to bring those responsible to justice.
"Argentina seeks the international arrest of those responsible for the AMIA attack of 1994, which killed 85 people, and who remain in their positions with total impunity. One of them is Ahmad Vahidi, sought by Argentine justice as one of those responsible for the attack against AMIA," said the statement by the foreign ministry.
In addition to Interpol, Argentina has reached out to the governments of Pakistan and Sri Lanka, urging them to detain Vahidi.
The statement from the foreign ministry emphasized the pursuit of justice for the AMIA bombing, describing it as a "crime against humanity" and criticizing the continued impunity of those involved.
The court ruling earlier this month also attributed a 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, which killed 29, to Iran and Hezbollah, branding Iran a "terrorist state".
Iran has consistently denied any role in the attacks, a position that has contributed to ongoing strained diplomatic relations with Argentina.
Project Nour, the regime’s new hijab enforcement plan, has seen Iranian authorities escalate their physical efforts to enforce the Islamic Republic’s strict hijab laws. It has led to a surge in violent crackdowns targeting women on Iranian streets.
Earlier this week, Ahmad-Reza Radan, Iran's Chief of Police and commander of the country's Law Enforcement Command, announced that the police would continue the “Project Nour” with the support of the parliament, the government, and the judiciary, with "strength and precision."
In 2010, Radan was sanctioned by the US, EU and the UK for serious human rights violations and his role in the deadly and violent repression of protests during Iran’s 2009 green movement.
As reported by state-run IRIB, Radan thanked his colleagues “who are diligently involved in implementing this plan and are pursuing it with a jihadistic spirit.”
In another significant escalation, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) also announced its participation in the enforcement efforts, forming groups known as "Mehr Ambassadors" to uphold the strict Islamic dress code for women.
Hassan Hassanzadeh, Tehran’s IRGC commander, emphasized that the group’s rigorous training aims to enforce hijab regulations with heightened intensity in public spaces.
Hassanzadeh was sanctioned in 2022 by Western countries for his role in the violent crackdown on nationwide anti-regime protests – often called the Women, Life, Freedom uprising, sparked by the killing of Mahsa Jina Amini in police custody.
Since the launch of the “Nour” project, reports have emerged detailing disturbing instances of police officers extorting money from women in exchange for leniency, alongside allegations of theft and sexual harassment.
The situation has raised alarm both domestically and internationally, with human rights organizations, student groups and prominent activists decrying the Iranian authorities’ violations of basic freedoms and human rights.
Despite the Iranian officials' scrambling to soften criticism of the hijab crackdown, speeches by Supreme Leader Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi triggered a new round of suppression on unveiled women.
The regime’s enforcement campaign has also drawn condemnation from other quarters, including “The Laleh Park Mothers” also known as “Mourning Mothers” – a group of Iranian women whose family members were killed during the 2009 protests.
In their statement, issued on Monday, they condemned the renewed assault on women's freedoms, accusing the government of resorting to brutality to deflect attention from its failures.
"...with the order of Ali Khamenei with the plan of chastity and hijab in the name of “Nour", the war against women is more than intense,” the statement read.
Iran analyst and journalist Morad Vaisi posited that the recent efforts are the regime's attempt to reclaim control over women's rights, stating, “Women occupied many strongholds in the past years and forced the Islamic Republic to retreat, now the regime wants to take these strongholds back from women. Also, Khamenei has a grudge against women and feels inferior.”
