Argentina: Rising Trade with Iran Prompts Jewish Community

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001264 USDOC for 4321/ITA/MAC/OLAC/PEACHER NEA/IR for SARAH GROEN SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETRD ECON PTER PREL AR IR SUBJECT: Argentina: Rising Trade with Iran Prompts Jewish Community Outcry -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Bilateral trade between Argentina and Iran has grown rapidly in 2008, increasing to US$ 483 million in the first half of 2008 from under US$ 5 million in the first half of 2007, driven mainly by Argentine agricultural exports. Paradoxically, the increase in bilateral trade follows Argentina's 2007 issuance of international arrest warrants for five current and former Iranian government officials accused of participation in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires which killed 85. There was also evidence of Iranian involvement in the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy that killed 29 persons. The Iranian Charge d'Affaires in Argentina denies that the jump in bilateral trade was prompted by any change in GoI trade policy. Reaction from the Jewish community in Buenos Aires has been decidedly negative. End Summary. -------------- -------------- Bilateral Trade with Iran Grows 82-fold in 2008... -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) According to local media reports citing official GoA statistics, total Argentine goods trade with Iran increased eighty-two times in the first half of 2008 y-o-y, from US$ 5.88 million in the first semester of 2007 to US$ 483 million in the same period of 2008. The increase was driven by Argentine exports, which rose from $ 4.88 million to $ 480 million, while imports from Iran grew from $1 to $3.2 million. Iran rose to become Argentina's fourteenth-largest export market in the first half of 2008, from 104th in the first half of 2007. Raul Ochoa, a private sector trade specialist, told press that "99% of what we export" to Iran is soy products and corn. -------------- ...despite GOA pursuit of Iranian Terrorists -------------- ¶3. (SBU) The article attributes the 2008 increase to a change in Iranian trade policy. The surge in Argentine exports to Iran suggests the rapid restoration of a significant trade relationship. Trade between Iran and Argentina had been substantial until 1998, when the GoA expelled Iranian diplomats after evidence surfaced of Iranian involvement in the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy that killed 29 persons and the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center that killed 85. In retaliation for the expulsion of its diplomats, Iran suspended trade with Argentina, including $1.6 billion in Iranian exports and imports of about $640 million worth of grain and meat from Argentina. The GoA in November 2007 won a long and hard-fought campaign (over Iranian objections) to get the Interpol General Assembly to approve the issuance of international arrest warrants for five current and former Iranian government officials on one Lebanese Hizballah leader. ¶4. (U) In interviews with the local press, Iranian Charge d'Affaires in Argentina Mohsen Baharvand, however, denies that the increase in Argentine exports to Iran resulted from a specific "order" to lift Iranian trade restrictions, and claimed that Iran was in a process of privatizing foreign trade. Local media reports an Argentine business leader calling Iran's earlier decision to block trade "a serious blow," and said that the reversal was "a pleasant surprise." -------------- -------------- Argentine Jewish Community Reaction Strongly Negative -------------- -------------- ¶5. (U) Reaction to the increase in bilateral commerce from the local Jewish community has been decidedly negative. Sergio Burstein, member of the Association of Family Members and Friends of the Victims of the AMIA attack, was quoted in the press on September 9 that "it's disgusting" that there are businesspeople "who prioritize the economic and leave by the wayside" such a serious accusation. Aldo Donzis, President of the Delegation of Argentine-Israeli Associations (DAIA),was quoted in the press September 6 as saying "It's inconceivable that the Justice Ministry has indicated Iran as responsible for terrorist attacks in Buenos Aires and, as if nothing had happened, maintain normal trade relations. It looks like we're rewarding them." -------------- Comment -------------- ¶6. (SBU) The growth in bilateral Argentine/Iranian trade is notable in light of ex-President Nestor Kirchner's April 2007 comment: "It's terrible how many Argentines sometimes wish we would prioritize commercial exchanges and not find the truth about who committed terrible acts here in our homeland. There is not a single coin, or a hundred, or billions of coins which could be traded for the loss of life and the evil attack that our countrymen suffered." Burstein called upon current President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (Nestor Kirchner's wife) to "block exports to Iran" until the accused are brought to justice. The lack of such a decision thus far may indicate a Casa Rosada decision to curry favor with estranged agricultural interests. It is just as likely, however, to be a trade development that occurred because of Iranian actions (perhaps a conscious Iranian decision to make the trade relationship more of a lever) that has until now escaped the notice of a GoA preoccupied with more pressing concerns. WAYNE