AJC: Argentine Prosecutor Report Details Iran Government Global Terror Strategy

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May 30, 2013, 03:28 ET

NEW YORK, May 30, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An important new report on the Iranian government's terror activities in Latin America is a powerful indictment of the regime's strategy and practice, spanning 30 years, to setup bases in individual countries.

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"The AMIA bombing did not constitute an isolated event," writes Alberto Nisman, referring to the 1994 deadly terror attack on the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, in which 85 people were killed and 300 injured. "It has to be investigated and understood as part of a larger effort by Iran to infiltrate Latin America."

Nisman, the Argentine prosecutor investigating the AMIA bombing, authored the 500-page report. It details how Tehran has methodically placed terror operatives in several countries, using Iranian embassies, local mosques and front companies connected with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, to form "intelligence structures" that can strike when needed.

"Alberto Nisman has produced an invaluable report that should be studied and absorbed by governments and law enforcement authorities across the hemisphere," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "We applaud Nisman's thorough research, relentless determination, and laudable courage to reveal the truth, while some in the region would prefer to bury their heads in the sand."

Nisman traces the roots of Iran's global terror plan to a 1982 seminar in Tehran for Muslim leaders from around the world that was "a turning point in the regime's policy for exporting the revolution, including the use of violence and terrorism."

Similar to the planning for the AMIA attack, Iranian operatives in Guyana planned an attack at JFK International Airport in New York in 2007 that was foiled by local and federal authorities.

Nisman will be sharing the report with governments across Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe to raise awareness of the dangers posed by Iran and its misuse of diplomatic facilities to further state terrorism.

For years, AJC has been calling attention to Iran's stepped-up activities in Latin America, and raising concerns about Tehran's support for terrorism, both in testimony before the U.S. Congress and in regular meetings with top government officials across the region.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee