Last update - 00:00 19/11/2006
Iran summons Argentine envoy over arrest request for ex-president
By The Associated Press
TEHRAN - Iranian authorities summoned Buenos Aires' envoy to Tehran in protest over an Argentine judge's request to arrest former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and other officials, state-run radio reported on Sunday.
During a meeting with the charge d'affaires, Ali Eslamian, an Iranian Foreign Ministry official, condemned the Argentine judge arrest requests as an "irresponsible act" and "against legal and judicial procedure," the radio reported.
"The U.S. and Israel open support of the judge indicates an under the table deal to incriminate Iran," Eslamian said.
Earlier this month, an Argentine judge's sought the detention of Rafsanjani, Iranian president between 1989 and 1997, and eight other officials for the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires. The blast killed 85 people and wounded more than 200.
The attack was the worst ever on Argentine soil, and prosecutors there allege it was orchestrated by leaders of the Iranian government and carried out by the Lebanon-based guerrilla group Hezbollah.
Iran has denied any involvement in the attack.