The man Iran's president has named to be defense minister is wanted in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires, and his nomination drew an outcry from Argentina and Jewish groups. Ahmad Vahidi, who commanded a unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard known as the Quds Force at the time of the attack, was nominated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Wednesday along with others named to fill Cabinet positions. The Quds Force is involved in operations abroad, including working with Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, which is accused of carrying out the Buenos Aires attack. Argentina Prosecutor Alberto Nisman told The AP Friday that Vahidi is accused of “being a key participant in the planning and of having made the decision to go ahead with the attack against the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association.” Nisman has led the investigation into the July 18, 1994, bombing – Argentina's bloodiest terrorist attack. The bomb exploded inside a van outside the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association, killing 85 people and wounding 200. “It has been demonstrated that Vahidi participated in and approved of the decision to attack AMIA during a meeting in Iran on Aug. 14, 1993,” when he led the Quds Force, Nisman said. He added that Vahidi was never in Argentina. Argentine officials claim that Iran orchestrated the attack and that the Iranian-backed Hezbollah carried it out. The United States and Israel also say Iran is behind the bombing, but Iran has denied it. Iranian clerics have raised objections to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's decision to include three women in his new cabinet, the conservative daily Tehran Emrouz reported Saturday. Ahmadinejad named Sousan Keshvaraz, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi and Fatemeh Ajorlou as his ministers respectively of education, health and welfare, and social security in his 21-member cabinet line-up. “Although it is a new idea to choose women as ministers, there are religious doubts over the abilities of women when it comes to management. This should be considered by the government,” said Mohammad Taghi Rahbar, the head of the clerics' faction in the 290-member conservative-dominated Iranian parliament. Meanwhile, Iran's audit court has banned a controversial aide to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from public office for two months over a breach of administrative rules. “The Supreme Audit Court has sentenced Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie to a two-month suspension from service for continuing to grant illegal financial authority to an employee,” leading economic daily Sarmayeh said. It said the offence was committed when Mashaie was a vice president in charge of the Tourism and Cultural Heritage Organization during the first term of Ahmadinejad.
