by Louise Lief; Brian Duffy; Robin Knight; Jennifer Brieger; Jack Epstein; David Makovsky
For a vendor of domestic housewares, Manoucher Motamer seems to know an awful lot about foreign intrigue. The Iranian government contends that Motamer was a dry-goods merchant, a troublemaker and a liar; a man who doesn't know what he's talking about. But they were worried enough to chase him halfway around the globe. With good reason: Motamer subsequently told an Argentine magistrate that the recent bombings of a Jewish community center in Argentina and two car bombings last week in London were all related -- and that the government of Iran was behind the terrorism.
Motamer very nearly never got to make those allegations. Just days before a massive car bomb demolished the Argentine- Israeli Mutual Association on July 18, killing at least 95 people, Motamer and his family managed to slip out of Iran and decamp to Turkey, then to Cuba -- where Iranian agents promptly abducted Motamer and his family. From Havana, the Motamer family was flown to Venezuela, and it was there that Motamer's actions suggested parallels with James Bond. Somehow Motamer hoodwinked his Iranian captors, disappeared into a nearby United Nations office and secured a pledge of asylum from the Venezuelan government. When news of the Buenos Aires bombing flashed around the world, Motamer decided to talk.
Rejectionists. What he has told an Argentine investigating judge -- American and Israeli authorities are also questioning Motamer -- casts new light on the crepuscular world of international terrorism. With Jordan and Israel finally rejecting 46 years of hostility for the heartening prospects of peace, Yassir Arafat essaying the role of municipal miracle worker in Gaza and Jericho and even Syrian President Hafez Assad making grumbling noises about conciliation with his Israeli enemy, the ranks of the Arab rejectionists are thinning dramatically.
Manoucher Motamer's allegations, if they can be confirmed, cast a dark pall over this suddenly brightening picture of the Middle East. According to several knowledgeable officials, Motamer, described by U.S. and Argentine officials as a senior government official, provided detailed information about the Iranian support for a terrorist group called Ansarallah, or Partisans of God, that claimed responsibility for the July 18 bombing in Buenos Aires. U.S. intelligence specialists say the group is a subsidiary of the larger Hezbollah, or Party of God, and is headed by Sheik Sobhi Toufeili, a Shiite cleric. Hezbollah was organized and financed in Lebanon by Iranian diplomats and other officials, mostly after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. Since then, Hezbollah-sponsored terrorists have demonstrated a frightening ability to attack targets elsewhere in the Middle East and as far away as Europe, Latin America and Asia. One of the most serious of those attacks came in 1992, with a terrorist car bombing outside the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires; at least 38 people perished.
"Suicide martyrs." The 1992 bombing stunned American and Israeli intelligence officers, but Motamer's allegations suggest a Hezbollah-backed terrorism infrastructure that is far more dangerous than had been previously suspected. Coming on the heels of the bombing of the Argentine-Israeli cultural club, a suspicious aircraft explosion in Panama and two London car bombings -- one just outside the Israeli Embassy -- Motamer's charges seem eerily prescient.
In Argentina, the southern cone connection is the most surprising element in the picture. The border area shared by Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay has long been a haven for arms and drug smugglers, but Motamer has claimed that Hezbollah has an operations base in the area.
After the Buenos Aires bombing and the aircraft tragedy in Panama, in which 21 persons (12 of them Jewish) died, a statement typewritten in Arabic claimed that the Partisans of God were responsible for both. "Suicide martyr squads have been formed to confront and combat Zionism everywhere," the statement read. "The Argentina and Panama operations are evidence of this continuing confrontation."
In London, the picture is more murky. A little-known group called Palestinian Resistance -- Jaffa Team Palestine claimed responsibility for the two bombings. Aside from apparent links between groups supporting the Islamic-Palestinian cause, links between the events in Argentina and Panama are not clear. Argentine President Carlos Menem told Jewish leaders last week that he had warned British authorities of an impending terrorist attack based on his government's debriefing of Motamer. In London, authorities say that no such warning was received. Israeli authorities, for their part, say that London was given three separate though nonspecific warnings of suspected terrorist activities against Israeli and Jewish targets. "The world has to wake up from its slumber, and not just after an attack," says Yigal Pressler, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's adviser on terrorism matters. "The problem is not just Israel's alone."
In Iran, the government professed to be mystified by the events in Argentina, Panama and London and aggrieved by the allegations against them. President Hashemi Rafsanjani said his government had nothing to do with the violence, but subalterns added that the international community could expect more terrorist attacks "in the near future." But while Rafsanjani has taken to making moderate-sounding statements on the Middle East peace process, Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has noticeably sharpened his rhetoric, particularly against Israel. Meanwhile, Iran's notorious intelligence service has continued to dabble in foreign policy and mount operations out of Iranian embassies abroad. Venezuela expelled four Iranian diplomats and the Iranian ambassador for their role in the abduction of Motamer. Argentina is considering severing diplomatic ties with Iran if evidence that Tehran was involved in the bombings mounts. And Britain has accused Iranian agents of supplying Irish Republican Army terrorists with guns, explosives and money.
Some intelligence specialists suspect there may be a more narrow-minded interest at work than trying to stop the peace process. In southern Lebanon and the occupied territories, Israel and Islamic fundamentalists have engaged in numerous violent skirmishes. "It's tit for tat," says a U.S. government expert. "Every time Israel strikes, they strike back." Whatever the reason, if the current pattern continues, patience with Iran will not last forever, and Tehran may pay a heavy price for its support of terror.
