Baghdad calls back Amb. to Iran for yelling at Iraqi citizens in Tehran

Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Wednesday called back its Ambassador to Iran for “irresponsible” behavior days after receiving widespread criticism over a video of him yelling at expats at a Mosque in Tehran.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Wednesday called back its Ambassador to Iran for “irresponsible” behavior days after receiving widespread criticism over a video of him yelling at expats at a Mosque in Tehran.

On Tuesday, in a video posted on social media, at an event at a Shia Mosque in the Iranian capital, Ambassador Rajeh al-Mousavi was seen grabbing the microphone from a speaker on stage to shout at a group of Iraqi expats after one of them posed a question about the current hardships in Iraq’s the southern provinces.

For the past three months, people in Basra have staged a number of protests, which later spread to other Iraqi cities, demanding better public services, clean water, regular electricity supply, employment, and an end to widespread corruption in Iraqi government institutions.

Iraqis criticized the “unprofessional” response of Mousavi, arguing the ambassador is tasked with representing the people abroad and is supposed to listen to their concerns. Instead, social media users pointed to him as an example of a man putting foreign interests ahead of his own citizens.

The MoFA “regrets the irresponsible behavior of the Iraqi Ambassador to Tehran toward the Iraqi citizens,” and Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, sent Mousavi “back to Baghdad immediately following his actions,” read a statement by the ministry.

The Ministry added that they are currently investigating the matter and will take all legal measures against the discharged ambassador and called on all their missions to be “in the service of citizens.”

Editing by Nadia Riva