IRNA says Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif criticized Russian and British Ambassadors to Iran for the picture published on the Russian Embassy Twitter account.
“I saw an extremely inappropriate picture today. Need I remind all that August 2021 is neither August 1941 nor December 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.
The Twitter account of Russia’s Embassy in Iran published a photo August 11, showing the new British Ambassador to Iran Simon Shercliff sitting with Russia’s Ambassador to Iran Levan Jagaryan on the upstairs in the porch of Russian Embassy building.
The location and setting reminded the 1943 Tehran conference where the then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, then US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and then Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin sit at the same place for photo opportunity.
The conference is widely notorious among Iranians and is considered as an aggression and humiliation of Iranian identity and sovereignty. The photo was broadly criticized by all walks of life in Iranian media and social networks.
Meanwhile, Tasnim news agency says Iran’s Foreign Ministry called in Russia’s ambassador to demand explanation about a picture released by the Russian Embassy in Tehran, which was taken to bring to mind a World War II-era conference in the city that lives in infamy in the historical memory of the Iranian nation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Russian Ambassador to Iran Levan Jagaryan to discuss the Iranian public's reaction to a joint photo of Jagaryan and British Ambassador Simon Shercliff taken on the background of the Russian Embassy in Tehran," according to the Embassy's information.
"Today… Jagaryan was invited to the Iranian Foreign Ministry over the contentious reaction of the Iranian public to the photo published jointly with the UK Ambassador in Tehran Simon Shercliff," according to a statement obtained by Sputnik from the Embassy.
After hearing the ambassador's explanations, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while emphasizing the friendly relations between Iran and Russia, reminded him that the publication of this photo, even with the stated intention, was not acceptable and necessary attention to the country's historical, political and cultural requirements should be carefully considered by the ambassadors.
The Russian diplomatic mission added that the discussion was "held in a friendly manner" and the Iranian side received "all necessary explanations" regarding the photo.
The embassy noted, "The ambassador expressed remorse for the misunderstanding."
