During Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony for Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Enrique Mora, the European Union official coordinating nuclear talks with Tehran, sat next to now-slain Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and other Palestinian terrorist leaders as they called for the destruction of Israel.
Footage aired by Tehran’s official IRIB channel showed that Mora remained seated as attendees—including Haniyeh and Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Houthi terrorists—chanted “Death to Israel.”
In addition, a group photo shows Mora standing right behind Haniyeh, whose terrorist group has been sanctioned by Brussels since 2001.
“Yesterday in Tehran, the E.U.'s Enrique Mora was posing for a photo with the late Ismail Haniyeh, head of the E.U.-designated Hamas, for the inauguration of the president of the genocidal, antisemitic Iranian regime,” Daniel Schwammenthal, head of the American Jewish Committee’s Transatlantic Institute, tweeted on Wednesday.
Hannah Neumann, a member of the European Parliament for the German Green Party, addressed Mora: “As an experienced diplomat, at the age of 65, you should know when to accept an invitation to a ceremony—and when not.
“Producing this all-male family picture, featuring a number of persons on the E.U. sanctions list, legitimizing the new Iranian president, undermining all [European Union] foreign policy agendas,” Neumann wrote. “What exactly was the message you intended to send with this?”
.@enriquemora_ - as an experienced diplomat, at the age of 65, you should know when to accept an invitation to a ceremony - and when not.
— Hannah Neumann (@HNeumannMEP) July 31, 2024
And if you mistakenly accepted one (against the advice of the 🇪🇺 Parliament, btw), you can still opt to walk out of a family picture. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/U0RYNpqWO5
Amir Etemadi, a Washington-based Iranian dissident, called out Mora for “attending this so-called inauguration in Tehran alongside terrorist leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, & Islamic Jihad.”
“Your presence at this event, where ‘Death to Israel’ was chanted, is disgraceful. Shame on you!” added the Iranian activist.
UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer tweeted, “Family picture: Hamas terror chief Ismail Haniyeh and European Union official at yesterday’s inauguration of Islamic regime president in Tehran. Each for their own reasons, both really shouldn’t have been there.”
Haniyeh, Hamas’s “political” leader, was killed when a missile hit his Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps guest house in Tehran on Wednesday. An Iranian source told Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen daily, which is close to Hezbollah, that the strike “was carried out using a missile launched from country to country, not from within Iran.” Israel has yet to comment on the incident.
Earlier this week, Polish MEP Adam Bielan told E.U. foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell that it was “not appropriate” for Brussels to be represented at Pezeshkian’s swearing-in, as this would legitimize the Iranian regime.
Bielan, who serves as the European Conservatives and Reformists group’s foreign policy coordinator, wrote to Borrell: “This decision is not only misguided but stands in direct contradiction to the values and principles that the European Union purports to uphold. We expect a swift and appropriate response to ensure that our foreign policy remains consistent with our shared values and commitments.”
