At first blush, Argentina seems like an odd  choice of partners for the Islamic Republic of Iran.  The South American nation holds the dubious distinction of being the first  victim of Iranian terrorism in the Western Hemisphere, suffering terrorist  attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in Buenos Aires that were carried out by  Iranian-sponsored radicals in 1992 and 1994. Yet today, relations between Argentina and Iran are  unmistakably on the upswing.

In the past two years, the government of Argentina’s leftist President Cristina  Fernandez has broken with tradition and increasingly hewed a more  conciliatory line toward Iran. This is manifested in  growing bilateral trade (totaling some $1.5 billion in 2010), and a more  sympathetic diplomatic stance from Buenos Aires. Last September, for example, Argentina’s envoy to the United  Nations pointedly broke with previous practice and remained seated during Iranian President Mahmoud  Ahmadinejad’s inflammatory General  Assembly address.