Dutch politician angers Iran by throwing away Christmas present
The Iranian embassy released a statement saying that they are very upset about 50Plus leader Henk Krol throwing away a Christmas present the ambassador sent him. Krol threw the bag of pistachio nuts in the dustbin during a broadcast of PowNews, saying that the ambassador only sent gifts to male parliamentarians and that he found this so offensive that he can't accept his gift, NU.nl reports.
According to the Iranian embassy, the ambassador sends out gifts each year and decided to include the Dutch party leaders this year. The embassy also calls it nonsense that no gift was sent to women because of their gender. Several female diplomats were also sent a gift.
The Iranian parliament also condemned Krol's action, according to the newspaper. Iran says that the country received apologies from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to the embassy, several Iranians showed up to demand public apologies from Krol.
Krol told NOS that he is not impressed by the embassy's statement. "If you compare this with the public executions carried out in Iran and the position of women and homosexuals, then it is indeed very inhumane what I did", he said to the broadcaster.
