Scott Sullivan :
Rafsanjani Extradition Imminent?

With instability growing in Honduras, and especially with Hugo Chavez's threat of military intervention in Honduras, pressure is growing on Latin American leaders to deter potential Iranian terrorism in the region. Iran itself is well positioned to intervene in Honduras from bases in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.

The first step for Latin American leaders to gain a clear picture of Iran's terrorist capabilities is to ask Iranian President Ahmadinead to approve the extradition to Argentina of former Iranian President Rafasnjani. According to the Argentine government, Rafsanjani was instrumental in launching a wave of Iranian/Hezbollah terrorist attacks in Argentina in the mid-1990's that claimed eighty-five lives.

As Iran's highest ranking leader with responsibility for terrorism oversight, Rafsanjani should be able to provide Argentina with a comprehensive picture of Iran's terrorism activities in Latin America. Of particular concern to Argentine leaders is that Rafsanjani could use the Honduran crisis as a pretext to launch a new wave of Iranian terrorism in Latin America. Rafsanjani's goal would be to discredit his political rival Ahmadinejad and possibly even collapse Ahmadinejad's government with a Latin American terrorism scandal.

How can President Obama help restrain Rafsanjani? Obama can call every Latin American president, even Fidel Castro, and ask them to notify the governments of Argentina and Iran to express their support for Argentina's extradition request for Rafsanjani. Obama likes to talk about justice in the abstract as the basis for international law. Let justice be done in Argentina!

Scott Sullivan is a former Washington government employee and was the Senior Advisor for International Economics at the Crisis Management Center of the National Security Council, 1984 - 1986. Petroleumworld not necessarily share these views.

Editor's Note: All comments posted and published on Petroleumworld, do not reflect either for or against the opinion expressed in the comment as an endorsement of Petroleumworld. All comments expressed are private comments and do not necessary reflect the view of this website. All comments are posted and published without liability to Petroleumworld.

Fair use Notice: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of issues of environmental and humanitarian significance. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.

All works published by Petroleumworld are in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

Petroleumworld has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is Petroleumworld endorsed or sponsored by the originator.

Petroleumworld encourages persons to reproduce, reprint, or broadcast Petroleumworld articles provided that any such reproduction identify the original source, http://www.petroleumworld.com or else and it is done within the fair use as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Internet web links to http://www.petroleumworld.com are appreciated

Petroleumworld welcomes your feedback and comments, share your thoughts on this article, your feedback is important to us!

We invite all our readers to share with us their views and comments about this article.

Write to editor@petroleumworld.com

By using this link, you agree to allow E&P to publish your comments on our letters page.

Petroleumworld News 06/29/09

Copyright© 2008 respective author or news agency. All rights reserved.

We welcome the use of Petroleumworld™ stories by anyone provided it mentions Petroleumworld.com as the source. Other stories you have to get authorization by its authors.

Send this story to a friend

Any question or suggestions, please write to:
editor@petroleumworld.com

Best Viewed with IE 5.01+
Windows NT 4.0, '95, '98 and ME +/ 800x600 pixels

Scott Sullivan : Rafsanjani Extradition Imminent?

Scott Sullivan :
Rafsanjani Extradition Imminent?