Iran appoints AMIA bombing suspect to National Security Council

Iran has appointed Mohsen Rezaei, a suspect wanted by Argentina for his alleged role in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, to the position of secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. Rezaei, a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), had previously served as an adviser to the supreme leader.

Rezaei is subject to an Interpol Red Notice issued at Argentina's request. The 1994 bombing remains the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentina's history, killing 85 people. This appointment marks the second time this year Iran has placed a suspect wanted in connection with the AMIA bombing into a high-level security role.

Earlier in 2026, Ahmad Vahidi, another suspect in the AMIA case and also subject to an Interpol Red Notice, was appointed IRGC commander. In 2024, an Argentine court ruled that Iran and its proxy Hezbollah were responsible for the bombing. Subsequently, in June 2025, Argentina's federal judiciary ordered that 10 Iranian and Lebanese suspects, including Rezaei and Vahidi, be tried in absentia.

The list of eight other suspects named by the late AMIA special prosecutor Alberto Nisman includes former Iranian officials and suspected Hezbollah operatives. The appointment of Rezaei to such a significant security council role underscores ongoing tensions and legal challenges related to the attack.

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Mohsen Rezaei had resigned as an adviser to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, and would assume the role of secretary of Iran’s powerful Supreme National Security Council.