US Department of State
State Department spokesman Ned Price
press release
18 July 2022
Today we think with great sadness of the victims and survivors of two horrific attacks perpetrated by Hezbollah, namely the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association (AMIA) building, the center of the Jewish community in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the attack on a tour bus carrying Israeli tourists in Burgas, Bulgaria In 2012. The two Hezbollah attacks, which were carried out with Iranian support, destroyed hundreds of families.
The Amiya bombing was the deadliest unilateral anti-Semitic attack in more than half a century, articulated Hezbollah’s global ambitions, and represented a clear example of Iran’s support for international terrorism. High-ranking Iranian government officials were directly involved in the attack, and Hezbollah carried it out at the direction of the Iranian regime. No one responsible for the attack has been brought to justice, but the United States believes that all Argentines deserve to be held accountable for this despicable and cowardly attack.
Hezbollah killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver in a bombing in Burgas eighteen years later, also wounding 45 Israeli youths on the bus. Bulgarian courts convicted two Hezbollah activists in absentia in connection with the bombing, but justice has yet to be served.
The United States is committed to countering the malign influence of Hezbollah and Iran. The funding, training, weapons, and other support provided by Iran enables Hezbollah to conduct similarly complex and heinous terrorist attacks. The brutal killing of civilians should not continue. With our support, more than a dozen countries across Europe, South America, Central America and the Pacific have listed Hezbollah as terrorist or have imposed bans or other restrictions on it at the national level. We urge more countries to take similar measures to make it difficult for Hezbollah and its backers in Tehran to threaten peace and security around the world.