Enrique Mora, Deputy Secretary-General of the European Union’s External Action Service (EEAS), has been criticised after he posed for a group photo together with representatives of terrorist groups.
They included Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh plus representatives of Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and the Houthis, with whom Mora attended the inauguration ceremony for Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian in Tehran on July 30, 2024.
Haniyeh was the leader of Hamas, an Islamist terrorist group responsible for a multitude of deadly operations, including the October 7 attacks on Israel in which more than 1,200 Israelis died. Mere hours after the ceremony, Haniyeh was killed in Tehran in what was believed to have been an Israeli-led assassination.
In the official photo of the dignitaries attending the inauguration, Mora can be seen standing two metres from Haniyeh in the third row among a variety of other top representatives of terrorist groups.
Mora also attended the official inauguration ceremony in the Iranian Parliament. In a live stream of the three-hour proceedings, the attendants can be heard breaking out into shouts of “Marg Bar Amrika”, which translates to “Death to America”. Mora’s reaction is not captured on video.
Hamas, Hezbollah and PIJ have all been on the EU’s Anti-Terrorism Watchlist for years. The decision – or at least tacit acceptance – of a high EU representative to pose for a picture next to their leaders has, therefore, sparked harsh reactions.
On X, Hillel Neuer, head of the NGO UN Watch, called it a “family picture” and wrote that Mora really should not have been there.
Family Picture: Hamas terror chief Ismail Haniyeh and European Union official @enriquemora_ at yesterday's inauguration of Islamic regime president in Tehran.
Each for their own reasons, both really shouldn't have been there. pic.twitter.com/ROPqVFMXLH
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) July 31, 2024
Mora’s decision to attend the ceremony had already sparked criticism.
On July 26, Adam Bieland, a Polish MEP and foreign affairs co-ordinator for the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament, had called it “not only misguided but … in direct contradiction to the values and principles that the European Union purports to uphold” due to Iran’s persistent support for terrorist activities.
According to Iranian opposition news outlet Iran International, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed, Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan were also among international leaders to attend the ceremony, which did not feature any other Western big guns.
A source close to the EEAS acknowledged the images of Mora’s visit to Tehran were “not great” but added he had also attended the 2021 inauguration ceremony for then-Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May this year.
