IRAN: President Mohammad Khatami said yesterday Iran would take "strong action" after the arrest of its former ambassador to Argentina over the bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in 1994.
Mr Hadi Soleimanpour (47) was arrested in Britain on Thursday after Argentina requested his extradition in connection with the AMIA Jewish Community Centre blast that killed 85 people.
Iran has called for his immediate release and says the case is politically motivated, a charge dismissed by Britain. Iran said on Saturday it was cutting economic and cultural links with Argentina because of the arrest.
"The Iranian government will take strong action on this issue," the President said in remarks broadcast on state television, but gave few details about what that would involve.
Mr Khatami said he had demanded an immediate apology from Britain and said the Foreign Ministry would summon the British chargé d'affaires in Tehran for a second time.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran is sensitive about all of its citizens, particularly those who have responsibility, and it will not compromise on this," the President said.
Britain's chargé d'affaires, Mr Matthew Gould, said he had been summoned yesterday to the Foreign Ministry, where officials delivered a message asking for a swift resolution to the case.
"I repeated our position which is that the arrest was in no sense politically motivated," Mr Gould said, adding that the court's decision was independent of the British government.
Mr Soleimanpour entered Britain on a student visa in February last year to study at Durham University.
A British diplomatic source said the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, and his Iranian counterpart, Mr Kamal Kharrazi, had been in regular contact. The source said Britain hoped the case would not damage the relations built up recently between the two countries.
Mr Straw has made four visits to Iran in the past two years.
Diplomats said Iran's cutting of economic links with Argentina could affect Argentinian exports to Iran of wheat, sunflower oil, rice and other foodstuffs.
Tehran denies any involvement in the Buenos Aires bombing and withdrew its ambassador from Argentina soon after the 1994 attack to protest against the allegation. - (Reuters)