Hadi Soleimanpour was arrested in Durham, England on Thursday. He had been studying at Durham University on a student visa since February last year. He is being held on suspicion of involvement in the bombing of a Jewish cultural centre in Buenos Aries that killed 85 and injured 200 in July 1994, when he was serving as the Iranian ambassador to the South American country.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned both the Argentine and British charges d'affaires, Ernesto Alvarez and Matthew Gould, on Saturday to protest strongly against Soleimanpour's arrest. The British government has announced that Soleimanpour must remain in custody until a London court rules on an Argentine extradition request. Iran also announced Saturday that it was ending economic and cultural cooperation with Argentina to protest the arrest warrant.
As a matter of fact, Iran has time and again reiterated that none of its officials were involved in plotting the deadly bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center. Iran totally rejects all the allegations raised against it.
It is surprising that the first Argentine judicial investigations reported that Zionists were involved in the incident. Minutes after the explosion, due to their connections with the Argentine government and judiciary officials, Zionist agents were able to remove evidence from the scene.
Despite the Argentine government’s lack of goodwill and refusal to cooperate, Iran has been cooperating closely with Argentine organizations in this case. But, unfortunately, the Argentine judiciary is following Israel's instructions and politicizing the case.
In fact, it is clear that the baseless accusation is the product of a U.S.-Zionist plot against Iran. The Zionist lobby’s pressure on Argentina and Britain over the case is obvious.
Given the deadlock in the Middle East road map, the Zionist regime has tried to externalize its domestic problems by formulating a new strategy to exert more pressure on the Islamic Republic.
Also, it is probably not a coincidence that the arrest was made shortly after the political crisis in London regarding David Kelly’s suspicious death. The British government clearly wants to divert attention from the subject.
Nevertheless, one should not underestimate the U.S. role in the case. By repeating the same old accusations, Washington is trying to justify its allegations that Iran is a terrorist state and harbors terrorists.
Last but not least, there is the suspicious role played by the British government. It seems Tony Blair’s government is trying to take advantage of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s goodwill to blackmail it. Downing Street should not forget the goodwill Iran has shown on many occasions.
It seems that London has forgotten many things. Apparently it has forgotten that Iran has not made trouble for the British about their generous support for former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein during the 1980-1988 war against Iran.
In fact, Iran has even been helpful to the British in regional developments where the two countries interests coincided. The Blair government should remember that Iran hosted British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw four times during the recent crisis.
The British should also wake up to the fact that the charges against Iran were fabricated as part of a plot to damage Iran-Britain relations.
But, it seems that the Blair government, in line with U.S. objectives and Zionist interests, has taken an unfavorable stance toward Iran. The continuation of this policy could seriously harm bilateral relations unless London apologizes to Iran.
RA/HG
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MNA