An Iranian deputy foreign minister who has been visiting South Africa was listed by Interpol as being wanted in connection with a 1994 bombing that killed 85 people.

Dr Hadi Soleimanpour, who is currently in South Africa, is still wanted in Argentina, said Sergio Widder, Argentinian representative of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a Jewish human rights organisation.

Soleimanpour was due to hold a joint press conference with Deputy Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Ebrahim Ebrahim yesterday afternoon, but this was cancelled at short notice.

A Department of International Relations and Co-operation official said that the press conference had been cancelled because Soleimanpour "didn't feel comfortable with the media because his English is bad".

Department spokesman Clayson Monyela said he was not personally aware that Argentina had a warrant out for Soleimanpour's arrest.

Soleimanpour is due to leave South Africa this morning.

Soleimanpour, 55, whose name was also spelt Solaimanpour, was Iran's ambassador to Argentina when a bomb ripped through a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires on July 18 1994.

A total of 85 people were killed and more than 300 injured.

Nobody has ever been arrested in connection with the blast that flattened the seven-storey building, but Soleimanpour was among those wanted for questioning by Argentinian authorities.

A list of questions submitted to Argentinian embassy officials in Pretoria went unanswered.

Argentine Judge Juan José Galeano issued warrants for Soleimanpour's arrest and on August 21 2003 he was seized by British authorities as Argentina attempted to have him extradited.

The Telegraph newspaper reported at the time that he had been studying eco-tourism at the University of Durham when he was seized.

The extradition request was rejected by British authorities in November 2003 because there was insufficient evidence to proceed with extradition, according to BBC News.

The BBC reported at the time that the case strained ties between Britain and Iran, which said it was politically motivated.

In October 2006, Argentine prosecutors Alberto Nisman and Marcelo Martínez Burgos formally accused the government of Iran of directing the bombing, and the Hezbollah militia of carrying it out.

The BBC reported at the time that they called for the arrest of former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani and seven others.

Their names were sent to Interpol and Interpol red notices were issued.

The red notices allow the warrant to be circulated worldwide with the request that the wanted person be arrested with a view to extradition.

However, Iran contested the red notices.

On March 15 2007 Interpol issued a statement saying the red notices for Rafsanjani, former Iranian foreign affairs minister Ali Akbar Velayati and Soleimanpour had been withdrawn.