The State Department’s 2012 country reports on terrorism, released on Thursday, found that last year was “notable in demonstrating a marked resurgence of Iran’s state sponsorship of terrorism,” through the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), its intelligence ministry, and its terrorist group proxy Hezbollah.

Iran has also attempted to build up its network of spies and terrorist sleeper cells throughout South America, according to a 500-page indictment released by Argentine attorney Alberto Nisman, the general prosecutor on the AMIA bombing case.

The 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires was the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentina’s history, resulting in the death of 85 and injuring hundreds more. Federal prosecutors say the attack was plotted by Iranian government officials and carried out by Hezbollah.

Iran experts say these reports show that Tehran is making a concerted effort to expand its global influence.

“American officials who describe Iran as a ‘regional power’ are living in the past,” said Michael Rubin, a resident expert on Iran and terrorism at the American Enterprise Institute. “Iranians describe themselves as a ‘pan-regional power’ and, however ridiculous it may sound to us, hope to become a global power.”

Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior fellow Emanuele Ottolenghi noted that Iran has devoted significant time and expense to developing relationships with South American countries, but benefits very little in terms of trade.

“If you look at the trade balance between Iran and Latin America you discover that there is virtually no trade going on between Iran and the ALBA countries — that is the countries where Iran has invested the most politically and economically,” Ottolenghi said. “Most of the trade is between Iran and Brazil (first partner) and Iran and Argentina (second partner). Even in those two cases, the balance of trade is bizarrely tilted in favor of Brazil and Argentina.”

The Iranian espionage and terror-network activities outlined in the AMIA indictment could be the reason Tehran has worked to grow its presence in South America.

“What are the Iranians doing there, since years and billions later they are getting no trade out of the relation? The answer is that they seek a gateway and a friendly environment to expand their influence, conduct operations, etc.,” Ottolenghi said.

Nisman’s indictment placed Mohsen Rabbani, the former cultural attaché for the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires, at the center of Iran’s South American terror network.

Rabbani had previously been tied to the AMIA bombing, but Nisman’s indictment also makes the case that he was Iran’s point man as the regime attempted to infiltrate multiple South American countries.

Eight current or former Iranian senior officials are wanted by Interpol in connection with the bombing, including two candidates in the upcoming presidential election. The suspects remain at large and there have been no convictions in Argentina.

“At the very least, the Iranians have shown with the AMIA bombing, that they have global reach,” Rubin said. “The fact that those involved in that terrorist attack have reached the highest level of government says a lot about the direction in which Iran might head.”

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner’s leftist administration announced in January that it would form a joint “truth commission” with the Iranian regime to get to the bottom of the AMIA bombing. The commission would be composed of jurists appointed by both countries and tasked with investigating the bombing and reaching a resolution.

The initiative was met with sharp criticism from the Israeli government and the Anti-Defamation League. The U.S. State Department initially appeared open to the idea, but later expressed skepticism that the effort would lead to a just resolution, the Washington Free Beacon reported at the time.

Rubin said there is a reason why a state sponsor of Islamist terror such as Iran would seek out allies in left-leaning South American countries.

“There’s a dangerous confluence between the left and Islamism,” Rubin said. “Too often, anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism are the ties that bind, something Iran exploits every single day.”

Several Iranian officials are currently wanted by Interpol in connection to the bombing, which killed 85 and injured hundreds more.

The commission will be made up of five jointly chosen jurists. It will review evidence against the Iranians on the Interpol red notice list and send its findings to the international police organization.

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, who was recently photographed posing in a Viet Cong spider hole and holding hands with Fidel Castro, praised the establishment of the Truth Commission as “historic” on Twitter.

“Argentina reaffirms once again its unconditional respect for international law and unwaivable commitment to dialogue as the only mechanism for resolution of conflicts between countries,” said Kirchner, calling it the “only path to global security.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department was optimistic when asked about the Truth Commission.

“I think—you know, we all obviously have all wanted to see the perpetrators brought to justice, so if the Argentine government thinks this might take us closer to that, then we’ll have to—we’ll have to see,” said spokesperson Victoria Nuland at the State Department press briefing today.

However, Argentina’s decision has drawn outrage from Israel and Jewish community leaders, who see it as an effort to shield Iran from justice.

“We warned the Argentinians only a short while ago not to fall into the trap that the Iranians will set up for them,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yigal Palmor.

“We are stunned by this news item and we will want to receive from the Argentine government a complete picture as to what was agreed upon because this entire affair affects Israel directly.”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) also had strong criticism for the commission.

“[President Kirchner] laid out a series of rationales for why this was positive and historic,” said ADL director of international affairs Michael Salberg. “We certainly think it’s historic, but we find it to be anything but positive.”

“It establishes an unprecedented commission that will by its very nature further delay achieving justice in this case,” Salberg said. “And the further delay of achieving justice means that justice remains denied to the victims and the families of the victims.”

Kirchner’s decision to form a Truth Commission with Iran is the latest sign that her administration is allying itself with anti-American forces in the region. Argentina closed arms deals with China and Venezuela under Kirchner and escalated an aggressive fight with the United Kingdom over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.

“The Kirchner administration has steadily moved closer to the ‘Bolivarian’ bloc of nations led by [Hugo] Chávez [in Venezuela] and including Evo Morales in Bolivia, Rafael Correa in Ecuador and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua,” wrote Douglas Farah, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, in a recent report on the shifting Kirchner government.

Previously, the Kirchner administration riled the Israeli government and Jewish leaders by conducting negotiations with Iranian officials indicted in the 1994 bombing. Iran has long professed its innocence in the attack, dismissing the allegations as a “Zionist plot.”

Kirchner playfully peeks her head out of one of the spiderholes in one photo. She sits cross-legged and grinning outside the tunnel, dressed in guerrilla-style fatigues, in another.

Kirchner’s trip to Vietnam is the latest in a string of moves that have seen Argentina’s increasingly isolated and belligerent government cozying up with authoritarian states. Argentina has cut arms deals with China and Venezuela under Kirchner in just the last year, and continues to escalate a war of words with the United Kingdom over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.

presidencia.gov.ar

Kirchner flew to Southeast Asia on a rented plane out of fear her presidential jet might be seized by creditors as an Argentine naval vessel recently was in Ghana. The seizure of the Argentine Naval vessel Libertad was a humiliation for the Kirchner government, which continues to deal with fallout from the country’s 2001 debt default.

The government in Vietnam is one of the most repressive in the world. The ruling party “suppresses virtually all forms of political dissent,” according to Human Rights Watch.

Fourteen free speech activists were convicted earlier this month of “subversion of authorities” and sentenced to up to 13 years in prison in what has been described as a “sham trial.”

Kirchner arrived in Vietnam after a visit to Cuba where she posed for pictures with the enfeebled leader of that country’s Communist revolution Fidel Castro.

Fidel Castro and Cristina Kirchner / casarosada.gov.ar