The new British Ambassador to Tehran Simon Shercliff and longstanding Russian envoy Levan Dzhagaryan have caused consternation with a gaffe in which they were photographed in chairs sat in by Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin at the Soviet embassy during WWII at a time when Iran was occupied by the Soviet Union.

The photo (above), tweeted by Dzhagaryan (left), evoked the 1943 Tehran Conference attended by the British and Russian wartime leaders, as well as then US president Franklin D Roosevelt, at a time when Iran was subjugated and seen as going through a low point in its fight for independence.

What should have been a friendly photo of two officials meeting has caused uproar in some quarters in Iran with officials and citizens berating both ambassadors for showing a lack of empathy and appearing to look imperialistic.

Outgoing foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter: “I saw an extremely inappropriate photo today. Need I remind all that August 2021 is neither August 1941 nor December 1943. The Iranian people have shown – including during the talks on the nuclear deal – that their destiny can never be subject to decisions in foreign embassies or by foreign powers.”

Incoming foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian criticised the two diplomats, saying that “it is necessary for the error to be quickly corrected and made up for”.

The Russian ambassador was then swiftly sent a letter by the Iranian foreign ministry calling on him to explain his actions; however, the move was not classed as a “summons” as some online accounts claimed.

In a move aimed at quickly repairing the damage, the Russian embassy tweeted: “Taking into account the ambiguous reaction to our photograph, we would like to note that it does not have an anti-Iranian context. We are not going to offend the feelings of the friendly Iranian people.

“The only meaning that this photo has is to pay tribute to the joint efforts of the allied states against Nazism during the second world war. Iran is our neighbour and friend and will continue to strengthen relations based on mutual respect.”

NourNews, a media outlet seen as close to the Iranian Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), chose to hit out at Shercliff—even though he did not tweet the photo—saying the British ambassador’s actions were distinct and should be punished.

It had a word of caution for the Russian envoy, saying he should not be “deceived” by the British.

The Tehran Conference in November and December 1943 led to an allied agreement to open a second front against Nazi Germany.