Argentine President Javier Milei signed a sweeping bilateral framework agreement with Israel and declared his unequivocal support for the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran during a three-day state visit to Jerusalem, as he received the country's highest civilian honour and planned to oversee the opening of Argentina's embassy in the city.

Milei, on his third official visit to Israel since taking office in December 2023, signed the so-called Isaac Accords alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 19 — a platform to build closer ties spanning trade, diplomacy, culture and security between Israel and countries across the region. The two leaders also concluded memorandums of understanding on security and artificial intelligence.

"We expressed our firm support for the United States and Israel in their war against terrorism and against the Iranian regime, not only because it is the right thing to do, but because our countries are brothers in suffering," Milei said at a joint press conference with Netanyahu, invoking the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and the 1994 attack on the AMIA Jewish community centre, both of which Argentine courts have attributed to Iran, which has always denied involvement.

"To this day, we still demand justice," Milei added.

Netanyahu praised the Argentine leader for showing what he called "moral clarity" in standing with Israel, and expressed hope that other Latin American governments would join the Isaac Accords, which the two leaders described as inspired by the Abraham Accords — the deals brokered by Washington in 2020 that brought a wave of Arab-Israeli diplomatic normalisation.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee attended the signing ceremony, saying Milei and Netanyahu were "two of President Trump's greatest friends." He added: "I don't know of any two world leaders on our planet that our president has more respect for and more personal relationship with."

The visit also saw the announcement of the first direct commercial flights between Buenos Aires and Tel Aviv, due to launch in November. Milei said the new route would forge "an unbreakable bond" linking the two nations, and reiterated his intention to relocate Argentina's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, saying: "We reiterate our willingness to move the Argentine Embassy to Jerusalem as soon as conditions allow."

With the embassy set to open, Argentina joins a small group of nations — among them the United States, Paraguay and Honduras — that have chosen to base their Israeli missions in Jerusalem rather than Tel Aviv. Milei originally floated the relocation during a February 2024 trip to Israel, reaffirming the pledge in November ahead of a planned spring inauguration.

Most governments have refused to follow suit. The move is widely seen internationally as endorsing Israel's contested sovereignty over the city. Under longstanding UN resolutions, Jerusalem's final status remains unresolved; Palestinians claim its eastern sector as the seat of any future state, and neither Israel's military capture of the city in 1967 nor its subsequent annexation has received broad international legal recognition.

On April 20, Israeli President Isaac Herzog awarded Milei the Presidential Medal of Honour, the country's highest civilian distinction, citing what he called the Argentine leader's "bold leadership" and "deep affection for the Israeli people." Earlier in the day, Milei received an honorary doctorate from Bar-Ilan University, where he delivered a lecture drawing on his forthcoming book and his anarcho-capitalist philosophy. "We will not be able to coexist with certain cultures. Because we defend life and they will want to kill us," he told the auditorium, in a reference to the ongoing conflict with Iran. The Jerusalem visit was consistent with a posture Milei has struck since taking office: speaking at Yeshiva University in New York last month, he declared himself "the most Zionist president in the world."

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar hailed Milei on X as "one of the boldest leaders of our age." Sa'ar also confirmed that Milei would be the first foreign head of state to carry one of the torches at the Mount Herzl ceremony marking Israel's 78th Independence Day on the evening of April 21, a role symbolically representing one of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Milei's visit unfolded against a fraught regional backdrop. A ceasefire between the United States and Iran, whose expiry on April 22 coincides with the Argentine president's scheduled return to Buenos Aires, has raised cautious hopes of a broader diplomatic settlement. Trump said last week that a deal with Tehran was "very close", while Iran briefly declared the Strait of Hormuz open to commercial shipping. Nevertheless, Israeli officials have expressed scepticism about Iranian intentions and have not ruled out a resumption of hostilities.

Argentina's pivot toward Washington and Jerusalem has set it apart from its regional neighbours. Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have all criticised the US-Israeli military campaign, making Argentina the sole Latin American country to offer explicit backing for the war. Milei's government has expelled Iran's chargé d'affaires from Buenos Aires, and designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Quds Force as terrorist organisations, in alignment with US policy.

Buenos Aires hosts the bulk of Argentina's Jewish population, which at roughly 300,000 is the largest in Latin America.

Milei is scheduled to depart for Argentina late on April 21, arriving in Buenos Aires the next day.