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Ireland’s president has defended sending a letter of congratulation to the newly elected president of Iran, prompting a row with Israel. On Sunday Michael Higgins accused Dublin’s Israeli embassy of circulating the letter, a claim the embassy called “baseless” and “highly inflammatory”. A copy of the president’s letter, published by the Jewish Chronicle in July, congratulated Iran’s first reformist leader in decades, Masoud Pezeshkian, on his election and offered condolences for the death of his predecessor, Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed with seven others in a helicopter crash in May. Ireland wasn’t the only country to send congratulations to Iran, but the leaked letter claim is the latest point of contention between the Irish government and the Israeli embassy.
The president’s letter to Pezeshkian stressed the need for stability and peace in the Middle East, and encouraged continued co-operation between Ireland and Iran.
But the Israeli embassy noted that the letter did not mention “the threat Iran poses… that it calls for Israel’s destruction, that it arms and funds… Hamas and Hezbollah”.
Higgins, alongside Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Simon Harris and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin, said it was standard diplomatic procedure to write letters of condolences and congratulations to foreign leaders.
Other figureheads sent condolences after Raisi’s death, including EU Council President Charles Michel, US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller and Pope Francis.
Those to send congratulatory messages to Pezeshkian after the election included Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, China’s President Xi Jinping, and France’s President Emmanuel Macron (although Macron did urge Iran to stop supporting “destabilising actors” in the region).
Relations between the Irish government and the Israeli embassy are already strained. The Israeli ambassador was recalled in protest in May over Ireland’s decision to recognise the state of Palestine.
Asked about the letter, Harris said he doesn’t want to get into a “tit for tat” with Israel’s embassy or Israel itself, telling broadcasters: "I think the Israeli embassy should be focusing on things other than amplifying, circulating or referencing a letter that does really conform with normal diplomatic protocol between heads of state.
“You’d like to think that Israel would be more concerned with the fact that 14,000 children in Gaza are dead.”
Such letters have raised eyebrows before. In 1945, the then-Irish president offered his condolences to Germany after Hitler’s death. Later in 1953, the US and UK sent condolences to the Soviet government after the death of Stalin.
