Foreign Ministry denies defence minister's claim that Iran will head UN Human Rights Council

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has refuted Defence Minister Jana Černochová's statement that Iran will take over the presidency of the UN Human Rights Council from Czechia starting on Wednesday. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the defence minister criticised the alleged move, saying that the Iranian government has sponsored the killing of Israelis by Hamas terrorists.

The Czech Foreign Ministry responded to Ms. Černochová's post by saying that Iran is only chairing the Social Forum, which unlike the Human Rights Council is not a UN body, but rather an annual two-day event.

Ms. Černochová also made headlines recently by calling for Czechia to withdraw from the UN in response to Friday’s resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Middle East.