Iran Names Argentina’s Navy and Air Force as ‘Terrorist Organizations’

The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday designated the naval and air forces of Argentina as “terrorist organizations” to retaliate for Argentina naming Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization in April. The Iranians offered no logical reason for classifying the Navy of the Argentine Republic (Armada de la Republican Argentina, or ARA) and Argentine Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Argentina, or FAA) as terrorist organizations, nor did they explain why Argentina’s army was not similarly designated. The Iranian Foreign Ministry admitted the designation was “based on the principle of reciprocity.” “It is evident that ​the responsibility for all consequences arising from this ​matter will lie with the Argentine government,” the Iranian statement added. The administration of Argentina’s President Javier Milei added the IRGC’s Quds Force, the unit in charge of foreign espionage and infiltration, to its Public Register of Persons and Entities Linked to Acts of Terrorism and Their Financing (RePET) in January. “The Quds Force is a division of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, specializing in training for carrying out terrorist attacks in other countries,” said Milei’s January decree. “The Argentine Republic was a victim of its operations in the 1990s through the attacks on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 and the AMIA Jewish community center in 1994,” the decree noted. The 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires killed 29 people. The truck bomb attack on the Jewish center in 1994 killed 85 and injured 300 more, making it the bloodiest terrorist attack in the history of Argentina. Milei’s decree singled out Quds Force commander Ahmad Vahidi as a suspect in the 1994 attack, and noted Iran has “failed to cooperate” with an Interpol “red notice” issued for his arrest in 2007. Instead, the Iranian regime promoted Vahidi to deputy commander of the IRGC. The same Interpol red notice from 2007 covered Mohsen Rezai, who is now the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and one of the most belligerent voices in Iranian diplomacy. The Milei administration listed the same offenses on April 1, when it added the entire IRGC to its list of designated terrorist organizations. The new decree also cited Iran’s support for the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, which Argentina designated as a terrorist organization in 2019, due to its involvement in the 1994 bombing. The suicide bomber who drove his explosive-laden vehicle into the AMIA Jewish Center in Buenos Aires was a member of Hezbollah. “This government is determined that the Argentine Republic should once again align itself with Western civilisation, while firmly condemning and confronting those who seek to destroy it,” the Argentine presidential office said in April 2026, alluding to the United States’ designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organization in April 2019. The United Kingdom followed suit in 2016, after a string of arson and vandalism attacks against Jewish targets in Britain was linked to the IRGC. The European Union formally designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization in February 2026.