Government expels Irans top diplomat in Argentina

The Milei administration declared Iran’s highest-ranking diplomatic representative in Argentina, Mohsen Soltani Tehrani, persona non grata, ordering him to leave the country within 48 hours.  According to a communiqué released by the presidential press team, the decision was made in response to what it called “false and offensive” statements made by Iran. The release went on to say these comments were an “unacceptable interference” in Argentina’s internal affairs. The statements the Argentine government was referencing were made by Tehran in a release protesting Argentina’s recent decision to label the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite military group tasked with protecting the country’s authorities, a “terrorist organization.” Via a press release published by the Iranian embassy in Uruguay, Tehran had said that the decision could not only cause “serious harm” to bilateral relations between Argentina and Iran but also set a “dangerous precedent in international relations and create international responsibility for the Argentine government.” Iran also warned that President Javier Milei and Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno had become “accomplices to crimes and placed themselves on the wrong side of history” by aligning themselves with the United States and Israel.  In its statement announcing Tehrani’s expulsion, the Argentine government also cited Iran’s “refusal to cooperate with the Argentine judiciary in the investigation of the AMIA bombing, as well as its repeated failure to comply with international arrest warrants and extradition requests for those responsible” as another reason for the decision. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar publicly showed his support for the Argentine government’s decision. He also expressed his gratitude to Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno and praised the stance of President Milei, whom he described as “an example in the defense of the values ​​of freedom and in the fight against terrorism.” Soltani Tehrani had been serving as interim chargé d’affaires of the Islamic Republic of Iran since December 2021.  Labeling the IRGC a “terrorist group” The Milei administration argued that its decision on March 31 to declare the IRGC a terrorist group was based on “judicial investigations and intelligence work” that determined that two terrorist attacks in Argentina (the Israeli Embassy in 1992 and the Jewish community center AMIA in 1994) had been “planned, financed, and carried out with direct participation of the Iranian regime and operatives of the Revolutionary Guard.” The official communiqué also mentioned Ahmad Vahidi, an Iranian official accused of being involved in the 1994 AMIA bombing who was recently appointed commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guard. Cover photo: Mohsen Soltani Tehrani (courtesy Ambito)