"The baseless remarks by a novice guy are the lies that have been devised by Zionist circles and the judge in the case to cover up their political plot against the Islamic Republic of Iran", responded Mr. Hamid Reza Asefi, the senior spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry.

"The case has no legal basis and proof", Asefi was quoted by the official news agency IRNA as having stated, adding, "The issue is a new attempt to divert public opinion from the bribery scandal of the judge presiding over the bombing case".

On an international warrant from the Argentinean Judge Jose Juan Galeano, the Scotland Yard of Britain arrested last August the former Iranian ambassador to Argentine, Hadi Soleymanpoor, accused of participation in the terrorist bombing.

The arrest of Mr. Soleymanpoor in Durham, northern England, where he is studying and researching international politic led to a diplomatic imbroglio between Tehran and London in the one hand and to the suspension of trade and cultural ties with Buenos Aires on the other.

The former diplomat was freed on a record 750.000 British Pound bail on September 12 after his lawyers convinced a judge in a London Court that he would not try to flee the country while his extradition is pending.

"The inability of the Argentine court to provide the British court with documented evidence proves that Iran's earlier positions toward the issue had been true and also depicts the fact that the Argentine judiciary is serving the interests of the Zionist regime", Mr. Asefi observed.

Alongside of Mr. Soleymanpoor and Mr. Rabbani, who is in Tehran, six other Iranian officials, including the former Intelligence Minister Hojjatoleslam Ali Fallahian, now a senior adviser to the leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i on security and intelligence affairs are also sought by Judge Galeano.

As the witness "C", Mr. Mesbahi played an important role in the Mykonos case, from the name of a Persian restaurant in Berlin where Iranian agents assassinated on September 1992 four senior members of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan.

A Berlin High Court issued on April 1997 a verdict accusing all key Iranian leaders, including Ayatollah Khameneh'i and the former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani of direct participation in the murder.

Following the sentence, Germany issued an international arrest warrant against Mr. Fallahian and some other Iranian officials.

According to Mr. Mesbahi who defected from Iran seven years ago and now lives in Germany, the Iranian ayatollahs spent 200 millions US Dollars for the operation, including ten millions deposited to a Swiss bank account for Mr. Carlos Menem, the former Argentinean president for shelving the case.

Buenos newspaper say Swiss judicial authorities refused cooperating with the Argentine Judge by refusing to grant visa to Mr. Mesbahi and check on the possibility of Iranians having paid Mr. Menem, who categorically rejected the claim, but did not take action against the Mr. Mesbahi.