BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters)
-- An Argentine judge ordered
international arrest warrants on
Thursday for former Iranian President
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and eight
others in connection with the 1994
bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish
community center.
The warrants, handed down by Federal
Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral,
came after Argentine prosecutors
accused the Iranian government of
masterminding the attack that killed 85
people and wounded more than
200 others.
Tehran has repeatedly denied
involvement.
On July 18, 1994, a truck laden with
explosives leveled the the seven-story
Argentine Israeli Mutual Association
building, a symbol of the country's
Jewish community -- Latin America's
largest.
No one has been convicted of carrying
out the attack despite a lengthy
probe beset by irregularities.
But Argentine, Israeli and U.S.
officials have long blamed the bombing on
Hezbollah guerrillas backed by Iran.
Rafsanjani was Iran's president from
1989 to 1997.
