TEHRAN, Aug 13 (NNN-IRNA) – Iranian officials criticised a photo of British and Russian ambassadors, posted on Wednesday, by the Russian embassy in Tehran, slamming it “disrespectful,” as it reminds people of the Anglo-Soviet military invasion of Iran, during World War II.
“I saw an extremely inappropriate picture today (yesterday). Need I remind all that Aug, 2021, is neither Aug, 1941 nor Dec, 1943,” Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter.
Early yesterday, Iranian Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, also condemned the post, which he described in Persian as “far from diplomatic etiquette and inappropriate.”
“Both ambassadors must formally apologise immediately, otherwise a decisive diplomatic response will be necessary,” he added.
Russian embassy’s Twitter post showed the Russian and British ambassadors, Levan Dzhagaryan and Simon Shercliff, sitting on the historical chairs, where former Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin and former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill sat, during the 1943 Tehran Conference.
The post has been criticised on social media by a number of public figures, including former Iranian senior Presidential Advisor, Hesamoddin Ashna, former Vice-President, Shahindokht Molaverdi, and former parliament representatives.– NNN-IRNA
On Thursday morning, the Russian embassy’s official Twitter account stressed that the photo does not have “any anti-Iranian context,” and did not aim to offend the feelings of “the friendly Iranian people.”
The image, the embassy said in another tweet, was a “tribute to the joint efforts of the allied states against Nazism during the World War II.”
