Interpol must side with either Iran or Argentina in deciding Wednesday whether to put five Iranians and a Lebanese man on the police agency's most-wanted list.
The politically charged vote being held during Interpol's general assembly meeting in Marrakech will decide whether to issue "red notices" for six men, including former Iranian officials, allegedly linked to Argentina's worst terror attack _ the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.
Iran _ which also faces international pressure over its nuclear program and U.S. accusations of sending weapons into Iraq and Afghanistan _ has accused Israel and the United States of using the vote to for political ends. Tehran said the U.S. and Israel were essentially looking to discredit Iranian officials.
Strictly speaking, geopolitical questions do not concern Interpol, the 186-nation police liaison organization based in Lyon, France. Its main mission is to unite countries in the fight against crime on issues such as drug trafficking, smuggling of people and goods and fighting Mafia-style organizations and terror groups.
Argentine prosecutors have alleged that Iranian officials orchestrated the bombing and entrusted the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah to carry it out.
Former Iranian intelligence chief Ali Fallahian, former Revolutionary Guard chief Mohsen Rezaei and Hezbollah militant Imad Moughnieh are among the six suspects.
Moughnieh, whose whereabouts are unknown, is wanted for his alleged role in the kidnapping of Westerners in Lebanon in the 1980s, and suicide attacks on the U.S. Embassy and a Marine base in Lebanon that killed more than 260 Americans.
An Interpol decision to issue red notices would put the suspects on the agency's equivalent of a most-wanted list, but would not force countries to arrest or extradite them.
In March, Interpol's executive committee backed Argentina's request to put out red notices for the six. Iran objected, which sent the issue to a general assembly vote.
In Marrakech, Iranian delegates lobbied counterparts, mainly from African and Asian countries, by handing out dossiers written in several languages and explaining their case.
Among their arguments: Argentina's investigation was flawed, if not corrupt; some witnesses cited in that investigation were themselves wanted by Interpol; Iran quickly condemned the bombings; a bilateral resolution would be better.
Mohammad Ali Pakshir, a legal adviser in Iran's delegation, claimed that the United States and Israel "want Interpol to issue the red notices to be able to tell the world 'Look, they are terrorists.'"
Delegates from the United States, Argentina and Israel declined comment before the vote, with some saying they did not want to be drawn into Iran's accusations about politicizing the issue.
But a Republican aide in the U.S. House of Representatives, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly, said the U.S. was "very hopeful" the vote would go against Iran.
"The Iranians are lobbying very aggressively against this because it makes a real positive statement that they are involved in terror," he said.
No one has been convicted in Argentina in connection with the blast, in which a van stuffed with explosives leveled the seven-story Jewish center and shook Argentina's 200,000-strong Jewish community.
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Associated Press Writer William C. Mann in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
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