Iranian FM Criticizes Russian Embassy over ‘Inappropriate’ Photo
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif criticized an "inappropriate" picture published on the Russian Embassy Twitter account, recreating a WWII-era photo.
“I saw an extremely inappropriate picture today. Need I remind all that Aug. 2021 is neither Aug. 1941 nor Dec. 1943. The Iranian people have shown—including during the JCPOA talks—that their destiny can NEVER be subject to decisions in foreign embassies or by foreign powers,” Zarif wrote in a tweet.
On Wednesday, the Twitter account of Russian Embassy in Iran posted a photo of the new British Ambassador to Tehran, Simon Shercliff, sitting upstairs in the porch of the Russian Embassy building with Russia's Ambassador Levan Dzhagaryan.
The setting and location of the photo recalled the 1943 Tehran summit, where then-British prime minister Winston Churchill, then-US president Franklin D. Roosevelt, and then-Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin sat together for a photo opportunity.
The photo was broadly criticized by all walks of life in Iranian media and social networks.
Later on Wednesday, the Twitter account of the Russian Embassy to the Islamic Republic of Iran has posted an apologetic tweet, rejecting any anti-Iranian context of the photo.
“The only meaning that this photo has to pay tribute to the joint efforts of the allied states against Nazism during the Second World War. Iran is our friend and neighbor, and we will continue to strengthen relations based on mutual respect,” the Embassy wrote.
“Taking into account the ambiguous reaction to our photo, we would like to note that it does not have any anti-Iranian context. We were not going to offend the feelings of the friendly Iranian people.”
However, the 1943 conference is widely notorious among Iranians and is considered as an aggression and humiliation of Iranian identity and sovereignty.