Argentina's former President Cristina Kirchner has been referred for trial over an alleged cover-up of Iranian involvement in a 1994 bombing of a Jewish charity in Buenos Aires

Argentina's former president Cristina Kirchner has been referred for public trial over an alleged cover-up of Iranian involvement in a 1994 bombing of a Jewish charity in Buenos Aires, the judiciary announced on Monday.

A suicide bomber drove a van packed with explosives into the Jewish Community Centre building in Buenos Aires on 18 July 1994.

The bombing of the Argentine-Israelite Mutual Aid organization killed 85 people, the deadliest attack of its kind on Argentine soil.

Judge Claudio Bonadio has closed the investigative phase of the case, referring it to a higher level court for a public trial, the judiciary said. A start date has yet to be set.

Kirchner and her former foreign minister Hector Timerman and others in her 2007-2015 administration are accused of abuse of power and obstruction for signing a memorandum of understanding with Iran in 2012 that would have established a 'truth commission' to investigate the bombing.

Kirchner allegedly offered immunity to Iranian suspects in exchange for Iranian oil.

A photo from the scene of the 1994 bombing shows a man walking over the rubble lat the Argentinian Israeli Mutual Association

Rescue workers sift through the rubble at the site of a car-bombing at the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on July 18, 1994

The case against them was opened in January 2015, on the basis of charges brought by Alberto Nisman, a prosecutor who was found dead in mysterious circumstances four days later.

Nisman had claimed that the memorandum of understanding was a maneuver to cover up for the involvement of Iran and Hezbollah in the attack.

The case languished after his death, but Bonadio reactivated it in August 2016.

Kirchner, who has denounced the charges against her as a political persecution, nonetheless has said she welcomes an open trial to prove her innocence.