http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2013/June/Iranian-President-Elect-Linked-to-1994-Terror-Attack/

 

Iranian President-Elect Linked to 1994 Terror Attack

CBNNews.com

Thursday, June 20, 2013

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Iranian President-elect Hassan Rowhani served on the committee that approved the 1994 terror attack on a Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, the Washington Free Beacon reported this week.

The Argentine government believes a Hezbollah terror cell operating under instructions from Iran carried out the lethal attack, which killed 85 and injured more than 250 others.

A story posted Wednesday by the Free Beacon revealed Rowhani's connection to the bombing.

An indictment by a government prosecutor investigating the bombing includes testimony by a former Iranian Intelligence officer who defected in the late 1990s. Abolghasem Mesbahi testified that Rowhani served on a special committee headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei and then-President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani reportedly okayed the attack.

Reuel Gerecht, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said Rowhani played a role, albeit a subordinate one.

Gerecht told the Free Beacon Rowhani had to be aware of the plan though his approval wasn't needed. That was Khamenei and Rafsanjani's responsibility.

"Nothing in Rowhani's background…would suggest to you he has any moral qualms about bombing the enemies of the [Islamic] Republic," Gerecht said.