Enrique Mora’s presence in Tehran sparked a backlash, with several members of the European Parliament  describing it as a blatant contradiction with the EU’s  fundamental values.

”This policy of critical engagement with Iran consists of talking but also taking action when needed,” said EU spokesperson.

The European Union has justified the presence of an EU senior official at this week’s swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian by referring to its policy of ‘’critical engagement’’ with Iranian officials.

Enrique Mora, who is deputy secretary-general of the European Union External Service (EEAS), the EU’s diplomatic arm,  was in the Iranian capital for the inauguration of President Pezeshkian on Tuesday.

‘’His presence was in line with the EU’s policy of ‘critical engagement’ on Iran agreed by all EU member states in December 2020. This was the basis for the deputy secretary general of the EEAS to be in Tehran to use his interaction with officials of the incoming administration in Tehran to convey EU positions on all the issues of concern we have related to Iran,’’ said EU foreign affairs spokesperson Peter Stano at the daily briefing of the European Commission on Thursday.

He added: ‘’We have a number of concerns. Our relations with Iran are at a very low level for different reasons. For violation of human rights of people in Iran, for Iran’s support for Russia’s illegal aggressio against Ukraine, for arbitrary detention of EU citizens. These are all issues that we are actively tackling with them, with other messages we are conveying to them. Let us also not forget that the EU is the facilitator of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2013), the nuclear agreement, which requires to continue having contacts with Iran.’’

Asked what kind of messages Moran conveyed to his Iranian interlocutors regarding Iran’s proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis….Stano replied: ‘’ Of course Iran’s influence in the region and its contacts with its proxies in the region are one of the very important points in the interaction with Iran, we raise this  at every occasion. High Representative Borrell talked tot the acting Iranian foreign minister not so long ago, raising all these issues including Houthis operations in the Red Sea, including support for Hamas, for Hezbollah, and at every occasion we have  with Iranian counterparts we are pressing on these issues when it comes to regional stability either to stop the support or to exercise their infuence on terrorist organizations or other proxies that are creating instability or contributing to instability in the region.’’

But Stano didn’t answer a specific question from European Jewish Press regarding the fact that the EU senior EU official sat next to now-slain Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and other Palestinian terrorist groups leaders during the swearing-in ceremony for President Pezeshkian.

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 showed Mora, who is Spanish,  standing right behind Haniyeh, whose terrorist group has been blacklisted by the EU since 2001.

Mora’s presence in Tehran sparked a backlash, with several members of the European Parliament  describing it as a blatant contradiction with the EU’s  fundamental values.