Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian and UK ambassadors in Tehran after a controversial photo showed the two sitting atop the steps of the Russian Embassy in central Tehran.
While the photo might not at first sight appear particularly provocative, to many Iranians it was an "insult" that reopened old wounds and stirred up anti-Russian and anti-British sentiments.
The 2021 photo showed three chairs, with Russian ambassador, Levan Dzhagaryan and his UK counterpart, Simon Shercliff sitting on the left and right, respectively, while the chair in between remained vacant. The very same setting exists in the iconic 1943 photo of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, US President Franklin Roosevelt and UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill. What would have been the American chair in the 2021 photo is empty as the Washington holds no diplomatic relations with Tehran, and hence there is no US ambassador.
The three leaders were in the Iranian capital in 1943 at the height of the Second World War to attend the Tehran Conference, where an Allied nations agreement was inked for a second united front against Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany. Ever since, the Tehran Conference and the black-and-white photo taken during a time of Soviet and British occupation of Iran have served as a humiliating symbol of Iran's manipulation at the hands of world powers.
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