An Argentine special prosecutor's accusation that Iran has established terrorist networks throughout Latin America has renewed debate over how big a threat that poses to the region and the United States. Alberto Nisman, who is investigating the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people, said in a 500-page report released last week that Iran has been building the networks for nearly 30 years. That assessment coincides with a viewpoint held by many Western...

Reporters Without Borders condemns the use of excessive violence by the Buenos Aires metropolitan police against journalists covering a demonstration by hospital employees on 26 April. The organization also deplores the city public security minister’s comments about the violence and calls for appropriate disciplinary measures against all the officials who were responsible. At least 50 people including many journalists were injured when the police fired on the crowd outside...

Argentina and Iran signed an agreement to form an independent commission to investigate the 1994 bombing of the Buenos Aires Jewish community center. The pact was signed by the foreign ministers of the two countries on Sunday in Ethiopia on the sidelines of an African Union summit in Addis Ababa. The parliaments of both countries must ratify the agreement, which creates a Commission of Truth consisting of five independent judges, none from either Argentina or Iran. Suspects may be...

At least five privately-owned local and community-based media organizations in three South American countries have been the targets of violent attacks in the past few weeks, depriving some of them of the means to broadcast. Reporters Without Borders is committed to helping them rebuild. The press freedom organization is seeking a detailed breakdown of the estimated damage they have suffered. In view of the extent of the losses, we are requesting assistance from the authorities in the...

Iran said Wednesday it has completed a first round of talks with Argentina on the 1994 bombing of a Jewish aid organization in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and wounded 300. “On Monday and Tuesday, Iranian and Argentine legal experts held their negotiations about AMIA (the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Aid Association) and agreed to continue negotiations in the future,” foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said. “The time and the venue of the next round of...

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that transparent talks between Tehran and Bones Aires over the 1994 bombing at the Amia Jewish center will reveal the realities and pave the ground for the improvement of the relations between the two counties. "The two (Iranian and Argentine) foreign ministers recently met and agreed to coordinate the rest of the path. We think studying this issue should definitely result in transparency and finding the reality," the...

TEHRAN - Iran and Argentina announced on Thursday that they will continue their consultations until the case of Iran’s alleged involvement in the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) building is resolved. The announcement was made in a joint statement issued by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman after they held their first meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday, Reuters reported. The...

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday expressed concern about allegations that some Latin American drug trafficking organizations are linked with Hezbollah and Iran. "We are concerned about the activities of Iran and Hezbollah in the Western Hemisphere," the top U.S. envoy told the House Committee on Foreign Affairs at a hearing. Washington brands Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group in Lebanon, as a terrorist organization, while Iran's disputed nuclear program is...

Argentina's President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, said her country intends to spearhead the increased involvement of Latin American states in the Mideast peace process. Kirchner announced the decision over the weekend at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires, where she met an Israeli-Palestinian delegation of the Peace NGO Forum. The delegation included Dr. Ron Pundak, the former director of the Peres Peace Center, Dr. Meir Margalit, Jerusalem city council member (Meretz), Nancy Sadiq,...

Iran's president on Tuesday lauded his country's newly launched Spanish-language satellite TV channel, saying it would deal a blow to "dominance seekers" - remarks that were an apparent jab at the U.S. and the West. The launch is Tehran's latest effort to reach out to friendly governments in Latin America and follows Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's four-nation tour of the region earlier in January, which included stops in Cuba and visits to Venezuela, Nicaragua and Ecuador. It also comes...