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The Duke of Sussex’s confession over his killihngs as an Army member in Afghanistan has been used by the Iranian Government to take aim at Britain. Amid the escalating row over the execution of Alireza Akbari, a British-Iranian dual national accused of being a spy by the Iranian Government, the nation’s Foreign Ministry claimed that, given Prince Harry‘s words over his actions in Afghanistan, the UK was in “no position to preach”.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry wrote via its official Twitter account: “The British regime, whose Royal Family member, sees the killing of 25 innocent people as removal of chess pieces and has no regrets over the issue, and those who turn a blind eye to this war crime, are in no position to preach others on human rights.”
This tweet was the last of a string of messages shared by the account.
The first, accompanied by a picture of the office’s spokesman Nasser Kanaani, read: “The British regime’s uproar and the support of some European self-proclaimed defenders of human rights for London is only a sign of their evasion and violation of law.”
Yet a royal source has claimed the Duke of Sussex will “find a reason not to attend” as making an appearance would be “very hard” after recent claims.
So do you think Harry should attend the coronation? Vote in our poll HERE.
The UK’s Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, condemned the “cowardly and shameful” execution of British-Iranian citizen Alireza Akbari.
Branding the Tehran government a “vicious regime”, Mr Cleverly told the House of Commons: “[Akbari’s] execution was the cowardly and shameful act of a leadership which thinks nothing of using the death penalty as a political tool to silence dissent and settle internal scores.”
Iran revealed on Saturday it had executed Mr Akbari, a former Iran defence minister who had been arrested in 2019 and convicted of spying for Britain – a charge he had denied.
The UK was joined in its outrage by the US, Germany and France among other nations.
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The Duke of Sussex’s recent behaviour has shocked many. But he is a man who has served in the armed forces, worked hard to support ex-service personnel and campaigned on important issues such as mental health.
He has a huge amount to offer. In one of his recent interviews, Harry said he wants to “get my father back… to have my brother back”.
It’s not too late to do so.
Read the full opinion piece here.
Following the execution, London imposed sanctions on Iran’s prosecutor general Mohammad Jafar Montazeri and has recalled the British ambassador to Tehran.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also delved into the row, saying he was “appalled” over the execution by Tehran.
He said: “This was a callous and cowardly act, carried out by a barbaric regime with no respect for the human rights of their own people.”
Prince Harry served as an Army member for 10 years, during which he was sent twice to Afghanistan.
While during his stint between 2007 and 2008 – interrupted by the breach of the media embargo – he was a forward air controller, the Duke qualified to fly Apache helicopters ahead of his second tour of duty in 2012.
He said the technology available allowed him to say “precisely how many enemy combatants I’d killed”.
He continued: “So my number: 25. It wasn’t a number that gave me any satisfaction. But neither was it a number that made me feel ashamed.
“In the heat and fog of combat, I didn’t think of those 25 as people. I’d been trained to ‘other-ise’ them.”
The Duke added “you can’t kill people if you see them as people”, saying instead he saw his targets as “chess pieces removed from the board”.
Describing – much like the Iranian Foreign Ministry – Harry’s targets “innocent countrymen”, Taliban police spokesman Khalid Zadran said earlier this month: “Prince Harry will always be remembered in Helmand – Afghans will never forget the killing of their innocent countrymen.
“The perpetrators of such crimes will one day be brought to the international court and criminals like Harry who proudly confess their crimes will be brought to the court table in front of the international community.”
In his interview with US TV host Stephen Colbert recorded on Monday last week, Harry accused the press of taking his words out of context and spinning them while reporting the recounting of his actions in Afghanistan ahead of the official release of his book.
He told the Late Show host: “Without a doubt, the most dangerous lie that they have told, is that I somehow boasted about the number of people I killed in Afghanistan.
“If I heard anyone boasting about that kind of thing, I would be angry. But it’s a lie.
“It’s really troubling and very disturbing that they can get away with it… My words are not dangerous – but the spin of my words are very dangerous to my family. That is a choice they’ve made.”
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