Illustrative image | Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Photo: Majid Saeedi / Getty Images) | Ukraine's ambassador to SA, Olexander Scherba. (Photo: X) Ukraine’s ambassador to South Africa has declined an invitation from his Iranian counterpart to express condolences for the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – because he says drones supplied by Iran to Russia are killing thousands of Ukrainians.
Ambassador Olexander Scherba posted on X that “weirdly” the Iranian embassy had informed Ukrainian diplomats that it was opening a book of condolences (to be signed) in memory of Khamenei and the military leadership of Iran, who had been killed in the US and Israeli attacks that started on Saturday.
He said he had decided to respond publicly to Iranian Ambassador, Mansour Shakib Mehr.
“I feel compelled to remind you of the following,” Scherba wrote. “As military allies of the Russian Federation, the deceased leaders of Iran had on their hands the blood of thousands of Ukrainian citizens – men and women, children and elderly – killed with the help of the infamous Iran-made ‘Shahed’ drones and other military know-how so eagerly provided to Russia by your government.
“Your leaders were complicit in bringing endless grief to Ukrainian civilians. Being a person of faith, I try not to rejoice in the death of other people, even those who chose to be tormentors of my country, [which] did nothing bad to theirs.”
Russia has reportedly deployed tens of thousands of Shahed drones into Ukraine during the four-year war.
Scherba continued: “But as someone who has spent three years to the tune of Iran-created machines of death howling every night in the sky over Kyiv and other peaceful Ukrainian cities, I cannot help but wish for every culprit to meet the justice they deserve. If not by human law, then in the face of God Almighty.
“Ambassador, I do not know you personally and have no grudge against you. Sometimes good diplomats must speak for bad leaders and their policies. But I hope you understand that I won’t express condolences for someone whose death I do not mourn.”
‘We categorically reject any involvement’
The Iranian embassy responded to Scherba’s post by denying that it is providing military assistance to Russia. It also said in a post on X that its notice about the condolence book was addressed to the entire diplomatic corps in Pretoria, and was not a specific invitation.
The embassy quoted a statement by the late Khamenei on 21 March 2023, in which he said: “We categorically reject any involvement in the war in Ukraine. They falsely claimed that Iran is participating in the war in Ukraine; absolutely no such thing exists. We have no involvement whatsoever.
“In fact, it was the US that started the war in Ukraine in order to expand #Nato eastward. The groundwork for this war was essentially created by the US.
“Even now, it is the US that gains the greatest benefit and profit from the war. The poor people of #Ukraine are the ones suffering, while #American #weapon factories are the ones profiting.”
The Iranian embassy post concluded: “To put an end to it, let’s hear from Sa’di, the prominent Persian poet, who says: Human beings are members of a whole, in the creation of one essence and soul. If one member is afflicted with pain, other members uneasy will remain. If you have no sympathy for human pain, the name of humans you can not retain.” DM