Argentina Prosecutor Dismisses Iran Terror Cover-Up Case Against President

President Cristina Fernandez of Argentina Image by Getty Images
An Argentine prosecutor on Monday dismissed allegations that President Cristina Fernandez tried to derail an inquiry into the bombing of a Jewish center in 1994, likely marking the end of the case.
Federal prosecutor Javier De Luca was assigned by Argentina’s top appeals court after the case had already been rejected by a lower court in February, a decision upheld by a lower appeals court on account of “lack of evidence.”
“There has been no crime,” De Luca told Reuters. In his official statement, he said his decision was “equivalent to a definitive sentence.”
The allegations against Fernandez were originally leveled by prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was found dead in his flat with a bullet wound to the head on Jan. 18 the day before he was due to testify about them to parliament.
Nisman had accused Fernandez of trying to cover up allegations made in Argentina courts that Iran was involved in the truck bombing of the AMIA Jewish Community center in Buenos Aires in order to clinch a grains-for-oil deal with Tehran.
Iran denies any involvement in the bombing.
Nisman’s mysterious death spawned a slew of conspiracy theories, some involving Fernandez.
Her government has sought to discredit Nisman. Last week it made accusations that Nisman received salary kick-backs from the IT specialist who had been working with him on his original investigation into the bombing.
Fernandez’s cabinet chief said Nisman spent the embezzled money on champagne, women and lavish vacations. The accusation prompted outrage from the opposition, adding fuel to a scandal over Nisman’s death that has rocked Argentina for three months.
The president on Sunday published a statement on her personal website in which she stated that Nisman had said hedge fund manager Paul Singer could help the Jewish community. Argentina has fought a long court battle with Singer over its defaulted debt and vilified hedge funds as “vultures.”
On her website, Fernandez criticized Israeli policies on Iran. She also wrote, “For many of us, peace is the best tool to achieve greater global security. It’s a shame that a powerful few have not yet understood that.”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.