BUENOS AIRES: Argentina will try in absentia ten Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people, a ruling seen by AFP on Thursday said.

The attack, which caused devastation in Latin America鈥檚 biggest Jewish community, has never been claimed or solved, but Argentina and Israel have long suspected Lebanon鈥檚 Shiite Hezbollah group of carrying it out at Iran鈥檚 request.

Judge Daniel Rafecas acknowledged the 鈥渆xceptional鈥� nature of the decision to send the case to court, over three decades after the bombing and with the suspects all still at large.

Trying them in absentia, he said, allowed to 鈥渁t least try to uncover the truth and reconstruct what happened.鈥�

On July 18, 1994, a truck laden with explosives was driven into the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) and detonated.

The deadliest attack in Argentina鈥檚 history injured more than 300 people

No-one has ever been arrested over the attack.

The ten suspects facing trial are former Iranian and Lebanese ministers and diplomats for whom Argentina has issued international arrest warrants.

Since 2006 Argentina had sought the arrest of eight Iranians, including then-president Ali Akbar Hashemi Bahramaie Rafsanjani, who died in 2017.

Iran has always denied any involvement and refused to arrest and hand over suspects.

Thursday鈥檚 ruling on trying them in absentia is the first of its kind in the South American country.

Until March this year, the country鈥檚 laws did not allow for suspects to be tried unless they were physically present.

It comes amid a new push in recent years for justice to be served over the attack, backed by President Javier Milei, a staunch ally of Israel.

Rafecas said a trial in absentia was justified given the 鈥渕aterial impossibility of securing the presence of the defendants and the nature of the crime against humanity under investigation.鈥�

In April 2024, an Argentine court blamed Hezbollah for the attack, which it called a 鈥渃rime against humanity.鈥�

It found that the attack and another on the Israeli embassy in 1992 that killed 29 people were likely triggered by the Argentine government under then-president Carlos Menem canceling three contracts with Iran for the supply of nuclear equipment and technology.

The court did not however manage to produce evidence of Iran鈥檚 involvement.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights in San Jose, Costa Rica last year found the Argentine state responsible for not preventing, nor properly investigating, the attack.

It also blamed the state for efforts to 鈥渃over up and obstruct the investigation.鈥�

Former president Cristina Kirchner has been ordered to stand trial over a memorandum she signed with Iran in 2013 to investigate the bombing.

The memorandum, which was later annulled, allowed for suspects to be interrogated in Iran rather than Argentina, leading Kirchner to be accused of conspiring with Tehran in a cover-up.

She has denied the allegations.