Hungarian Minister Visits Tehran Amid Ukraine Crisis

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó visited Tehran and met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, despite the fact that Iran is actively supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine.

Szijjártó, who was taking part in a Hungarian-Iranian business forum in Tehran, said the two countries are interested in developing economic cooperation in areas that are not affected by sanctions, such as pharmaceuticals, healthcare, the food industry, and water management.

He announced that he had signed a bilateral agreement that would "open up even greater access to the Iranian market for high-quality Hungarian agricultural technology and food products".

At a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Szijjártó said he had come to Tehran to prevent an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, which would pose a "huge threat to global security".

Szijjártó made only a passing mention of the 7 October 2023 terrorist attack on Israel by Iran-backed Hamas militants and the attacks on civilian vessels by Yemeni Houthis, who are also sponsored by the Iranian regime.

He made no mention at all of the fact that Tehran is providing military assistance to Russia to wage its war in Ukraine, which contradicts Hungary's position that no one should provide weapons to either side in the "conflict".

This is not the first time that Hungary has sought to build relations with countries from the modern-day "axis of evil". In 2022, Szijjártó welcomed the Iranian minister of economy, and in 2023, he traveled to Belarus and shook hands with its self-styled president, Alexander Lukashenko.

Senior Hungarian officials are also the only ones in the EU who have continued to travel to Russia since the outbreak of the full-scale war in Ukraine.