Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned on Monday the Argentine charge d'affaires in Tehran, Mario Enrique Quinteros, to "protest strongly" against Buenos Aires over its criticism of the nomination of Iran's new defense minister, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Iran's Foreign Ministry official told Quinteros that the statement issued by the Foreign Ministry of Argentina on the issue is a "clear interference in Iran's internal affairs and is strongly condemned."

"Unfortunately, there are some people and groups in Argentina, especially in its judicial system, that are defending the interests of the Zionists instead of defending the interests of people of Argentina," the official was quoted as saying.

On Friday, Argentina expressed outrage at the nomination of Ahmad Vahidi, who was allegedly involved in the 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires, as the next defense minister by re-elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Vahidi is wanted by the International Police Organization (Interpol) in connection with a bombing targeting the Argentine-Israel Mutual Association in Buenos Aires in 1994, which left 85 people dead and about 300 wounded.

The Interpol issued a warrant for Vahidi's arrest in November 2007.

Iran has strongly denied these allegations, saying that Argentine Prosecutor Alberto Nisman has received huge sums of money from Jewish lobby groups in Argentina to accuse Tehran of the bombing, said the report.

Source: CampaignIran.org