Retired army officer abuses Iran's foreign minister in viral video, sparks diplomatic row

A retired army officer has triggered a brief diplomatic row after he called Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi a ‘son of a pig’ in a now-viral video. The clip caused Iran to react sharply against it and prompted the Indian embassy to distance itself from retired major Gaurav Arya's remarks. The former officer, however, defended his stand on X.

The Iranian minister had visited India on May 8 and met President Draupadi Mumu and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi. In his video, Arya slammed Araghchi for visiting Pakistan before traveling to India for talks amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan after the terror attack in Kashmir's Pahalgam killed 26 people on April 22.

"He was in Pakistan and met top leadership including Shehbaz Sharif. Then he came to India. This man, this 'son of a pig' had to come India when Pahalgam attack happened. He told Jaishankar that Iran was with you," the retired officer says in the video before proceeding to write "pig" on a screen displaying Araghchi's visit to India and Pakistan.

Responding to the video, the Iranian embassy in India wrote on X, "Respect for guests has a long-standing tradition in Iranian culture. We Iranians consider our guests to be 'beloved by God'. How about you?" Foreign publication Iran Observer commented, "An Indian army major calls the Iranian foreign minister 'son of a pig' on national television. This video is now going viral in Iran. The Indian government must immediately take action against this person."

Arya's comments were, however, made on his YouTube channel The Chanakya Dialogues and not on national television. Meanwhile, the Indian embassy in Iran stepped in with a clarification: "The Indian Embassy in Iran would like to clarify that the person in the video is a private Indian citizen. His statements have nothing to do with India's official position and the Indian government finds the disrespectful tone used in the video inappropriate," it stated on X.