TEHRAN, 25 August 2003 — Iranian President Muhammad Khatami said yesterday Iran would take “strong action” over the arrest of its former ambassador to Argentina over the bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires in 1994.
Ex-envoy Hadi Soleimanpour, 47, was arrested in Britain on Thursday after Argentina requested his extradition in connection with the AMIA Jewish Community Center blast that killed 85 people.
Iran has called for Soleimanpour’s immediate release and says the case is politically motivated, a charge dismissed by Britain. Iran said on Saturday it was cutting economic and cultural ties with Argentina because of the arrest.
“The Iranian government will take strong action on this issue,” the president said in remarks broadcast on state television, but gave few details about what that would involve. Khatami said he had demanded an immediate apology from Britain and said the Foreign Ministry would summon the British charge d’affaires in Tehran for a second time.
