Western officials from Poland and Britain hit back at Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi after he posted a tweet in Polish condemning a drone display in the UK parliament that linked Iran to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In his post on X, Araghchi said "the exhibition in the British Parliament of a drone falsely and maliciously attributed to Iran is a pathetic scene staged by the Israeli lobby and its sponsors.”
Responding in Polish, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said it was “nice that Iran’s foreign minister writes in Polish,” but added it “would have been better not to sell drones and licenses for their production to Russia while it was already waging aggression against Ukraine.”
He said Iran should instead “rebuild the Persian civilization that once amazed the world.”
British MP Tom Tugendhat accused Tehran of aiding Russia and Yemen’s Houthis “in murdering others abroad,” saying Iran’s rulers should “focus on the country they’re destroying at home” instead of interfering overseas.
Former US governor Jeb Bush, who chairs the US advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran, also called Araghchi’s post “pathetic” and accused Iran of sponsoring “terror militias” while failing to provide its people with electricity and water.
Mark Wallace, the CEO of UANI which organized the drone display, said the exhibit “revealed the regime for what it is: the leading state sponsor of terrorism.”
Wallace accused Araghchi and Iran’s leadership of sending “murderous suicide drones around the world killing and maiming the citizens of over 80 countries.”
The display was held on Tuesday at the British parliament in London and attended by Western and Ukrainian officials.
Following the display, Iran summoned Poland’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran to protest Sikorski’s participation in the event.
Iran denies supplying drones for use in the war, saying it sold a limited number to Russia before the invasion began.
Western governments and Ukraine say Shahed-type drones, designed in Iran and now produced in Russia under the name Geran, have become central to Moscow’s air assaults.
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