five leading Iranians, wanted by Argentina for their alleged role in a 1994 bombing that killed 85 people. Delegates at the world police body's annual general assembly in Marrakech voted by a two-thirds majority to uphold a unanimous decision taken in March by Interpol's executive committee to issue "red notices" against the five.
Of the 146 member states attending the gathering, 78 voted to uphold Interpol's earlier decision, 14 voted against it and 26 formally abstained.
Among those subject to an arrest warrant is Iran's former intelligence chief Ali Fallahian and the former head of the country's Revolutionary Guards, Mohsen Rezaei, as well as three Iranian diplomats.
"This shows that even after 13 years have passed, one can fight for justice with the tools that the law provides to fight terrorism," Argentina's chief prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, told reporters after the vote.
The July 1994 bombing leveled the seven-floor Argentine Israeli Mutual Association building in Buenos Aires, a symbol of Argentina's Jewish community which is the largest in Latin America.
Argentinean prosecutors allege Iran masterminded the bombing in Buenos Aires and entrusted Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to execute it. Iran blames its enemies, the U.S. and Israel, for trying to implicate it in the bombing.
"Politics overruled the rule of justice. It was not a vote for justice, it was a political vote," said the director of the international law department of Iran's ministry of foreign affairs, Alireza Deihim.
The decision comes at a time of rising tension between Iran and the West over its nuclear energy program which the United States and the European Union suspect is part of a secret attempt to develop nuclear weapons.
In a statement, Interpol president Jackie Selebi said the agency had treated both sides "fairly and impartially" and had "meticulously applied its rules throughout the dispute resolution process".
Argentina's chief prosecutor also rejected any suggestion that the warrants were politically motivated and acknowledged that it was unlikely that Iran would extradite the suspects.
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