- Israel is “concerned” about two Iranian airlines’ activities in Latin America
- The Boeing 747 cargo plane has been held at an Argentine airport since last Wednesday.
- 14 Venezuelan and 5 Iranian crew members have been barred from leaving the country pending investigations.
The Israel embassy in Buenos Aires said Thursday it was “concerned” about two Iranian airlines’ activities in Latin America and praised Argentina for grounding a plane with an Iranian crew last week.
The Boeing 747 cargo plane, which was reportedly carrying car parts, has been held at an Argentine airport since last Wednesday, with its 14 Venezuelan and five Iranian crew members barred from leaving the country pending investigations.
On Monday, Argentine officials raised suspicions of a link between the flight and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, listed as a foreign “terrorist organization” by the United States, along with its elite Quds Force.
“The State of Israel is particularly concerned about the activities of the Iranian airlines Mahan Air and Qeshm Fars Air in Latin America,” the embassy said in a statement.
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It added the companies were “engaged in arms trafficking and the transfer of persons and equipment operating for the Quds Force, under sanctions from the United States for being involved in terrorist activities.”
On Wednesday, Argentina said a check confirmed there was no Quds Force member was among the grounded crew.
A day earlier, Paraguay said it had information that seven crew on the plane when it stopped there in May, were Quds Force members.
The plane belongs to Emtrasur, a subsidiary of Venezuela’s Conviasa, which is under US sanctions.
Iran has said the plane was sold by Iran’s Mahan Air to a Venezuelan company last year.
Mahan Air is accused by the United States of links with the Revolutionary Guards.
The embassy statement expressed “recognition for the rapid, effective and firm action of the Argentine security forces that identified in real-time the potential threat” posed by the aircraft.
Interpol has arrest warrants out for former Iranian leaders suspected of involvement in an attack on a Jewish center in Buenos Aires in 1994 that killed 85 people and injured hundreds.
Two years earlier, a bomb attack on Israel’s embassy in Argentina killed 29 and wounded 200.
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Argentina has the largest Jewish community in Latin America. It also has immigrant communities from the Middle East, particularly from Syria and Lebanon.
Argentina’s majority of people are descended from Italians and Spaniards, as is the case in neighboring Uruguay.
