Russian embassy denies Tehran ambassadors photo was offensive

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

62% : "Iran is our friend and neighbour, and we will continue to strengthen relations based on mutual respect."
53% : Although officially neutral in World War II, Iran was considered supportive of the Axis powers, and in 1941, Soviet and British troops invaded largely unopposed to secure oil fields and Russian supply lines through Iran.
49% : The two countries have also increased military cooperation, and Russia delivered hundreds of thousands of vaccines to Iran to fight COVID-19.
48% : Tehran and Moscow have improved their relations in recent decades after Russia built Iran's sole nuclear power plant in the southern Iranian port of Bushehr.
45% : Russian ambassador Levan Dzhagaryan and his British counterpart Simon Shercliff were pictured on the same steps where allied leaders had met during World War II when Iran had been invaded.
39% : Tensions between Iran and Britain have risen over an attack last month on a Liberian-flagged tanker off the coast of Oman.
35% : In response to the criticism, the Russian embassy has reiterated that they meant no offence to Tehran and said the photo had "no anti-Iranian context".
33% : Russia and the UK have denied offending Iran over a controversial photo of their ambassadors in Tehran.
31% : But Iran has described the photo as "extremely inappropriate" and summoned the two ambassadors, according to state media.
31% : The Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohamad Baqer Qalibaf, also tweeted that the picture was "inappropriate" and called on Russia and the UK to apologise or risk "a decisive diplomatic response" from Iran.
31% : Iran has denied any involvement in the incident and says the accusations are "baseless".

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