Since last Wednesday, Argentina has detained a Boeing 747 cargo plane that was said to be carrying auto spare parts, as it prevented its 14 Venezuelan and five Iranian crew members from leaving the country pending the completion of investigations.
On Monday, Argentine officials raised suspicions of a link between the plane and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which the United States designates a foreign “terrorist organization” along with its Quds Force.
“The State of Israel is particularly concerned about the activities of the two Iranian airlines, Mahan Air and Fars Air Qeshm, in Latin America,” the Israeli embassy said in a statement.
She added that the two companies “are involved in smuggling weapons and transporting people and equipment working for the Quds Force, which is subject to sanctions from the United States.”
On Wednesday, Argentina indicated that a verification process confirmed that there were no members of the Quds Force among the arrested crew.
A day earlier, Paraguay said it had information that seven crew members were members of the Quds Force.
The plane belongs to the company “Emtrasur”, a subsidiary of the Venezuelan company “Conviasa”, which is subject to US sanctions.
Iran said Iran’s Mahan Air sold the plane to a Venezuelan company last year.
The United States accuses Mahan Air of having links with the Revolutionary Guards.
The Israeli embassy statement praised the “rapid, effective and resolute action of the Argentine security forces, which identified in real time the potential threat” posed by the plane.
Interpol issued arrest warrants for former Iranian leaders suspected of involvement in the 1994 attack on a Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and injured hundreds.
Two years earlier, a bomb attack on the Israeli embassy in Argentina killed 29 people and wounded 200 others.
Argentina has the largest Jewish community in Latin America, and is home to immigrants from the Middle East, especially from Syria and Lebanon.
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