Argentina to Propose Agenda on Talks Over Jewish Center Bombing

Argentina will soon propose an agenda to Iran on talks to settle lawsuits related to the 1994 bombing of a Jewish aid organization in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people, authorities said Saturday, according to AFP.

Argentine and Iranian officials conducted preparatory discussions in Switzerland in October on the bombing in Buenos Aires, the worst attack of its kind in the country's history.

Since 2006, Argentine courts have demanded the extradition of eight Iranians, including current Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, to face charges over the attack, which injured another 300 people.

"In the coming weeks, our country will present an action plan that will be discussed at the next meeting to be held in January," Foreign Minister Hector Timerman told reporters at the presidential palace, AFP reported.

Timerman has said the first round achieved "positive results."

In the July 18, 1994 attack, a van loaded with explosives detonated outside the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Aid Association, leveling the seven-floor building housing it.

The bombing came two years after another attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires that left 29 dead and 200 wounded.

Iran has always denied any involvement in the attacks.

Last month, representatives of Argentina's Jewish community asked prosecutors to require that the government report on its meeting with Iran on the bombing.

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