Argentinian FM's visit may be canceled amid Iran reports

Foreign Ministry mulls canceling Hector Timerman's visit after Argentina reportedly offered to forget Iran attacks on Jewish targets.

The Foreign Ministry on Sunday said it was considering canceling the visit of Argentinean Foreign Minister Hector Timerman following a report suggesting Argentina would be willing to suspend the investigation into the 1992 and 1994 bombings of the Israeli embassy and Jewish center in Buenos Aires which killed 114 people.

Timerman's visit, which is scheduled to take place next week, could be canceled if the Argentine weekly Perfil's report turns out to be true.

The Foreign Ministry said that it was awaiting official clarifications from Argentina regrading the veracity of the report.

The report said that Argentina would be willing to suspend the investigation into the 1992 and 1994 bombings of the Israeli embassy and Jewish center in Buenos Aires which killed 114 people and wounded hundreds in return for improved financial relations with Iran.

According to the Argentinean tabloid Perfil, the Islamic Republic asked the South American country to drop the ongoing investigation into the bombings which are believed to have been carried out by Hezbollah and Iran and could implicate Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi.

“Argentina is no longer interested in solving these two attacks, but would rather improve its economic relations with Iran," the newspaper quoted an Iranian document it said it had obtained as saying.

Perfil, which is a vocal critic of Argentinean President Cristina Kirchner , said the offer was made to Argentinean Foreign Minister Hector Timmerman during a recent visit to Damascus where he met with Syrian President Bashar Assad, a close ally of Iran.

Argentina and Iran trade goods each year worth 1.2 billion dollars.

Source: The Jerusalem Post