Argentine President Javier Milei has branded Iran as "an enemy" of the country and reaffirmed his unconditional support for Israel amid escalating Middle East tensions, marking another sharp departure from the country's traditional foreign policy stance.

The President has become probably the most vocal supporter of Israel since his election in 2024, visiting the country twice since being elected. 

"Iran is an enemy of Argentina," Milei declared during a television interview on La Nación+, following Israel's June 13 air strikes on Iranian nuclear and military facilities. Israel claimed that Iran was approaching nuclear weapon development capabilities.

Milei linked his hostile stance toward Tehran to two terrorist attacks in Buenos Aires: the 1992 Israeli Embassy bombing and the 1994 AMIA Jewish community centre attack. 

Earlier in April 2024, Argentina’s highest criminal court blamed Iran for the fatal 1994 attack against the city’s Jewish community, which has been a big supporter of his presidency. That blast killed 85 people and wounded 300 more in the biggest terror attack blamed on Iran in South America’s history. 

Javier Milei celebrated the ruling, saying it was a “significant step” that put an end to decades of “delays and cover-ups”, as part of his push to consolidate his rule.

The country’s judiciary has long maintained that Tehran was the originator of the attack, but Tehran has not reciprocated joint investigations and Interpol arrest warrants. 

In the same interview, Milei suggested former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner may have committed treason by signing a 2013 memorandum of understanding with Iran regarding the bombings, though the agreement never materialised.

"Cristina is going to have to give explanations to the courts about the memorandum with Iran. I don't know if it constitutes treason, but they planted two bombs in Argentina. That's key," Milei stated in his La Nación+ interview.

Kirchner has already received a six-year prison sentence and lifetime ban from public office in a separate corruption case, with authorities seeking to recover an estimated $500mn lost in what prosecutors termed a "colossal" fraud scheme.