BRUSSELS: A Belgium regional official for Brussels, Pascal Smet, resigned on Sunday after sparking a furor by hosting an Iranian delegation led by the mayor of Tehran.
Smet’s exit came three days after Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib accused him of “sullying the image” of the capital by allowing the Iranians and a Russian delegation to attend the Brussels Urban Summit, a congress of mayors from major cities around the world.
Smet, Brussels’ state secretary for urbanism, announced in a news conference that he was stepping down.
He said he felt obliged to do so after an email from his office came to light stating that the city’s regional government was paying the accommodation costs during the conference of Tehran mayor Alireza Zakani, and that of two Russian officials.
Smet insisted he “didn’t commit a personal error”, saying one of his staff members made the accommodation commitment without him knowing.
Relations between Belgium and Iran are fraught.
Belgium last month freed an Iranian diplomat imprisoned on terrorism charges for plotting to blow up an Iranian opposition rally outside Paris in 2018, in exchange for Tehran releasing a Belgian aid worker and three other Europeans it had taken prisoner.
Zakani is aligned with the theocratic national rulers of Iran and closely linked with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, having previously headed its Basij militia unit.
Lahbib said Smet had insisted on visas for Zakani and the 13 other members of the Iranian delegation despite objections from her foreign ministry.
The two Russians also given visas to attend the urbanism gathering were the deputy mayor of the western Russian city of Kazan and an official in a Russian organization federating big cities.
Belgian official resigns over Tehran mayor’s visit
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Belgian official resigns over Tehran mayor’s visit
- Belgium last month freed an Iranian diplomat imprisoned on terrorism charges for plotting to blow up an Iranian opposition rally
UK defense minister suggests Putin’s ‘hidden hand’ behind Iran tactics
LONDON: UK Defense Minister John Healey suggested on Thursday that Russia was influencing Iran’s use of drone attacks in its war with the United States and Israel.
Healey said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “hidden hand” may be behind some of the tactics deployed by Tehran in the Middle East conflict, which started when the United States and Israel struck Iran on February 28.
He told reporters that officials were analyzing an Iranian-made drone that hit the UK’s Akrotiri air force base in Cyprus on March 1 “for any evidence of Russian or any other foreign components and parts.”
“We will update you and appropriately publish any findings from that when we’ve got them,” he said during a visit to Britain’s military headquarters in Northwood, near London.
“But I think no one will be surprised to believe that Putin’s hidden hand is behind some of the Iranian tactics, potentially some of their capabilities as well, not least because one world leader that is benefiting from the sky high oil prices at the moment is Putin,” he added.
Russia is a close ally of Iran, with the two agreeing last year to help each other counter “common threats.”
US President Donald Trump said Saturday he had no indication Russia was supporting Iran in the war, but that if they were, it was not “helping much.”
Nick Perry, the British military’s chief of joint operations, told Healey there were “definitively” signs of a link between Russia and Iran, including Iran’s use of drones “as learned from the Russians.”
No one was injured when the drone hit a hangar at Akrotiri. British warplanes shot down a further two drones heading for the base the same day.
Guy Foden, a brigadier in the British army, briefed Healey that UK troops based at a military base housing international coalition troops in Irbil, Iraq, had helped shoot down two Iranian drones on Wednesday.
