JTA — Argentina announced on Tuesday that it had designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, a move that was quickly praised by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.

The move stems from Argentina’s decades-long investigations into the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, which killed 29 and injured more than 200, and the 1994 attack on the AMIA Jewish center, which left 85 dead and 300 injured in what remains the deadliest terrorist attack on Argentine soil.

In a statement, President Javier Milei’s office described the attacks as “two of the most serious terrorist attacks in history, carried out in the 1990s by the IRGC’s operational arm in the region, the organization Hezbollah.”

With Tuesday’s decision, the Argentine government will now include the IRGC in the Public Registry of Persons and Entities Linked to Acts of Terrorism and its Financing, triggering financial sanctions and operational restrictions intended to curb its ability to operate in the country and safeguard Argentina’s financial system from illicit use.

The announcement by Milei, who has stood out as one of Israel’s staunchest international supporters, comes months after his office also designated the Quds Force, the foreign arm of the IRGC, as a terrorist organization in January. In recent years, Argentina has also designated Hamas and Hezbollah as terror groups.

The move shortly follows a Trump administration directive sent out to US diplomats abroad last month, urging them to push allies to designate the IRGC and Hezbollah as terror groups, according to Reuters.

Sa’ar praised the move in a post on X Wednesday, writing that the designation “places Argentina, under [Milei’s] leadership, at the forefront of the free world in the fight against the Iranian regime of terror and its proxies.”

“With this decision, President Milei – one of the greatest leaders of our generation – has once again demonstrated moral clarity and an unwavering commitment to the values of freedom and the fight against its enemies,” Sa’ar wrote.

Last month, just days into the ongoing US-Israel war with Iran, Argentina issued an arrest warrant for Ahmad Vahidi, who was appointed as the head of the IRGC after its previous leader, Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, was killed in the first wave of US-Israeli strikes on February 28.

Vahidi is currently the highest-ranking Iranian figure accused by the Argentine judiciary. An arrest warrant for him was first issued in 2006 in connection with the AMIA case.

A former head of the Quds Force, Vahidi is suspected of being behind the bombings of the Israeli embassy and AMIA Jewish community center.

He’s been wanted by Interpol since 2007 for his role in the bombings, to little effect.

Are you relying on The Times of Israel for accurate and timely coverage of the Iran war right now? If so, please join The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6/month, you will:

Support our independent journalists who are working around the clock under difficult conditions to cover this conflict;

Read ToI with a clear, ads-free experience on our site, apps and emails; and

Gain access to exclusive content shared only with the ToI Community, including weekly letters from founding editor David Horovitz.

We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.

You clearly find our careful reporting of the Iran war valuable, at a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.

Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically during this ongoing conflict.

So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you'll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.

Thank you,David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel

1 Girl, 11, critically hurt by Iranian cluster bomb as repeated salvos target center

2 Slain soldier considered missing since 1948 found in mass grave in north — IDF

3 Iran, Hezbollah launch attacks as Israelis host Passover Seders, sending millions to shelters

4 Op-edThe war against Iran is anything but over, and Passover can be no complacent celebration of freedom

5 UAE said pushing for military op to reopen Strait of Hormuz, is willing to take part

6 As US weighs putting troops in Iran, realities on ground keep Israeli boots closer to home

7 How the Exodus story subverts pharaonic texts to mock ancient Egypt

8 Trump says seriously weighing bolting NATO over allies’ failure to join Iran war

Israel-Argentina relations

Argentina-Iran relations

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC

AMIA Buenos Aires Jewish center

© The Times of Israel