Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday slammed the appointment of Ahmad Vahidi to be Iran’s new Interior Minister by newly-augurated Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, himself a confirmed hardliner.
“Iran’s new interior minister, Vahidi, is a criminal wanted by Interpol for murdering 85 people in the shocking 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires,” the foreign ministry said in a statement released Wednesday night.
“The international community must condemn this shameful appointment.
“This is the face of Iran’s new terrorist government: President Raisi, the “Butcher of Tehran,” is responsible for killing thousands of Iranians and his ministers are responsible for murdering people around the world,” the statement concluded.
Vahidi’s name still appears on an Interpol Red Letter for his part in the horrific AMIA attack.
The new Iranian interior minister holds a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology, a master’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Science and Technology and a doctorate in strategic studies from Imam Sadegh University, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.
A former defense minister, he was also the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’s intelligence unit, and after the establishment of the IRGC’s Quds Force, he was the commander of the Quds Force until 1976.
He is currently a full member of the Expediency Council and chairman of the political, defense and security commission, and is president of the Higher National Defense University, according to Tasnim.