"Call in immediately"

Vienna: Iran ambassador outraged by Hezbollah tweet

Iran's ambassador in Vienna posted the Hezbollah flag on Twitter. Their symbols are banned in Austria.(Bild: AFP/AFP, x.com/BagherpourAbbas)

A social media post by Iran's ambassador to Vienna, Abbas Bagherpour Ardekani, in which the flag of the radical Islamic organization Hezbollah can be seen, caused an uproar on Sunday. Local politicians were outraged. 

"Hezbollah will be victorious," reads the posting on the account of Ambassador Abbas Bagherpour Ardekani on X.

The post went online after the heavy air strikes by the Lebanese Hezbollah on Israel on Sunday. Hezbollah symbols are banned in Austria.

Call for the ambassador to be summoned
The Greens and the SPÖ reacted indignantly and called on the Foreign Ministry to summon the ambassador. The Iranian embassy was initially unavailable for comment and the post was still online on Sunday afternoon.

"I call on the Foreign Ministry to summon the Iranian ambassador and thus send a clear signal against terror," wrote Sigrid Maurer, head of the Green Party, in a reaction to X.

"Unacceptable to the highest degree"
Eva-Maria Holzleitner, deputy leader of the SPÖ, expressed a similar view: "It is highly unacceptable that the Iranian ambassador is posting the symbol of the extremist Hezbollah, which is banned in Austria, while Israel is under attack. The Foreign Ministry must clearly summon the ambassador here!"

There was still no statement from the ministry itself on Sunday afternoon. The Iranian ambassador had already taken a stand against Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip in the past and also condemned the air strikes on Hezbollah positions.  

Classified as a terrorist organization
Hezbollah is listed as a terrorist organization by many countries. It is banned in the UK, Japan, Canada, the Netherlands, the USA, Germany since April 2020 and Austria since May 2021. Hezbollah symbols may also not be distributed.