Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said Sunday Iran would take "strong action" over the arrest of its former ambassador to Argentina over the bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires in 1994.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami addresses a gathering of government officials near Tehran on Aug. 24, 2003.  [Reuters]

Ex-envoy Hadi Soleimanpour, 47, was arrested in Britain on Thursday after Argentina requested his extradition in connection with the AMIA Jewish Community Center blast that killed 85 people.

Iran has called for Soleimanpour's immediate release and says the case is politically motivated, a charge dismissed by Britain. Iran said Saturday it was cutting economic and cultural ties 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.

Khatami said he had demanded an immediate apology from Britain and said the Foreign Ministry would summon the British charge 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," Khatami said.

Britain's charge d'affaires, Matthew Gould, told Reuters he had been summoned Sunday to the Foreign Ministry, where he said officials delivered a message asking for a swift resolution to the case. Gould had already been summoned Saturday.

"I repeated our position which is that the arrest was in no sense politically motivated," Gould said, adding that the court's decision was independent of the British government.

Soleimanpour entered Britain on a student visa in February last year to study at Durham University.

A British diplomatic source said British Foreign Minister Jack Straw and his Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharrazi had been in regular contact about the case. The source said Britain hoped the case would not damage the ties built up recently between the two countries.

Straw has made four visits to Iran in the past two years.

Diplomats said Iran's cutting of economic ties 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.

Close

Today's Top News		Top International News
+Commentary: Don't meddle with yuan ( 2003-09-02) +200,000 troops to be cut by 2005 ( 2003-09-02) +Beijing Games marketing plan launched ( 2003-09-02) +Flood forces 10,0000 to evacuate ( 2003-09-02) +Beijing courts announce 50 major changes ( 2003-09-02)		+Medical Marijuana sold in the Netherlands ( 2003-09-02) +Hamas militant killed in Israeli attack ( 2003-09-02) +'Saddam' tape urges attacks on Iraq's occupiers ( 2003-09-02) +Police charge 3 in two India bombings ( 2003-09-01) +Myanmar denies opposition leader staging hunger strike ( 2003-09-01)