Commissioner’s offering of EU ‘solidarity’ with Iran creates storm
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EU commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič has insisted he was not offering “political support” to the Iranian regime after ending a post confirming the provision of satellite assistance to Iranian rescuers with “#EUSolidarity.”
The rescuers were responding to reports that a helicopter, carrying President Ebrahim Raisi and other top Iranian officials, had crashed near the border in a densely wooded, mountainous region near the border with Azerbaijan. Raisi, president of Iran since 2021 and considered a potential successor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was confirmed dead Monday morning.
As countries in Iran’s neighborhood lined up to offer assistance locating the crash site, Lenarčič had announced on X that the EU was activating its Copernicus emergency satellite mapping service to help find the downed helicopter. He ended his tweet with the tag #EUSolidarity — prompting an immediate backlash.
Dozens of accounts slammed the post, pointing to Raisi’s prominent role in the regime which has executed thousands of Iranians, the country’s sponsorship of terror, the use of Shahed drones to terrorize Ukrainian civilians and Tehran’s detention of Swedish EU official Johan Floderus.
A Commission official, granted anonymity to speak freely, noted Sunday that the tweet was consistent with the EU’s guidelines on humanitarian aid, but said they personally found the expression of solidarity “odd.”
Lenarčič’s post was reshared by the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, but not by the European Commission’s account or by Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen, who as of Monday morning hadn’t commented on the reports.
Photo: EU commissioner for “Crisis Management” Janez Lenarčič
