JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel may cancel a visit by Argentina’s foreign minister after a report that the South American country told Iran it would stop investigating two bombings of Jewish targets in exchange for better trade relations.
Argentinian Foreign Minister Hector Timerman is scheduled to visit Israel next week. Israeli Foreign Ministry officials are waiting for a response from their Argentinian counterparts on the veracity of a report in a weekly Argentinian newspaper before deciding how to handle the visit, according to Israeli news reports.
Timerman, who is Jewish, made the offer during a visit to Syria in January, Perfil reported over the weekend. Syrian President Bashar Assad and Foreign Minister Walid Moallem reportedly were the mediators and brought the offer to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
According to Perfil, Argentina was hoping the deal would lead to more trade with Iran, which is currently estimated at $1.2 billion a year.
Under the reported deal, which is based on a classified Iranian document, Argentina would drop its investigations into the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina, which killed 29 and injured 242, and the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Center in Buenos Aires, in which 85 people were killed and more than 300 injured.
Iran is accused of being behind the attacks.
