Serbian minister attends funeral ceremony for Khamenei in Tehran, opposition in Belgrade criticizes Vučić

Boris Bratina, Serbia’s Minister of Information and Telecommunications, took part in the farewell ceremony in Tehran for the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as an envoy of the Serbian Government. This was announced in a statement published on the minister’s official Instagram account.

According to the same statement, Bratina signed the book of condolences and, on behalf of the Government of Serbia and the Serbian people, conveyed condolences to the people of Iran.

Meanwhile, the official website of the Iranian Ministry of Technology, Innovation and International Affairs announced that Bratina arrived in Tehran on July 3, where he was received at the airport by Deputy Minister Mohammad Hafez Hakami.

On July 4, the multi-day funeral ceremony for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei began in Iran. He was killed on February 28, on the first day of the American-Israeli war against Iran.

This development has prompted political reactions in Belgrade. The opposition Freedom and Justice Party raised the question of whether Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić had informed the US administration about sending a minister to Tehran.

“After this, it is clear that there will be nothing of the coordination and harmonization of foreign policy with the European Union, despite the fact that this is one of the key conditions for the ‘unfreezing’ of the European integration process,” the reaction said.

In recent years, official Belgrade has maintained friendly relations with Iran, even though the country has been under international sanctions because of its nuclear activities and human rights violations.