Argentina welcomed an offer from Iran to help investigate the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish centre that killed 85 people and which local prosecutors blame on Iranian officials, Reuters reported.
Argentine prosecutors say that Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi is among those behind the attack. Iran denies any links to the bombing.
Local newspapers over the weekend carried a news release from the Iranian government offering to start talks aimed at "shedding light" on the bombing that levelled the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association building.
"The foreign ministry hopes to receive an official communication from its Iranian counterpart," the Argentine government said in a statement, which went on to call the overture from Iran "unprecedented and very positive."
But the AMIA issued a statement saying the organisation did not believe Iran's offer to be sincere. "We know Iran very well and we recognise this as a joke," the statement said, pointing out that Monday will mark the 17th anniversary of the bombing.