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‘Leaked’ Michael D Higgins letter to Iran: What has happened and is it really a big deal?

President says he believes the letter was ‘circulated from the Israeli embassy’, a claim denied by Israel

President Michael D Higgins accused the Israeli embassy in Dublin of circulating a letter of “best wishes” which he wrote to the newly-elected president of Iran. Photograph: Alan Betson
President Michael D Higgins accused the Israeli embassy in Dublin of circulating a letter of “best wishes” which he wrote to the newly-elected president of Iran. Photograph: Alan Betson
Jack Horgan-Jones's picture
Jack Horgan-Jones
Mon Sept 23 2024 - 17:15

President Michael D Higgins is not averse to putting the Government in an awkward position. He is back in the headlines this week after accusing the Israeli embassy in Dublin of circulating a letter of “best wishes” which he wrote to the newly elected president of Iran.

What has started all this?

In July it emerged that Mr Higgins had written a letter of congratulations to Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian, which caused a backlash online and drew criticism from the Israeli embassy as well as several Government TDs, who said he should not have sent the correspondence due to Tehran’s human rights record.

What has happened now?

The issue had slipped off the agenda but speaking in New York on Sunday, where he addressed a United Nations event, Mr Higgins said he believed the letter was “circulated from the Israeli embassy”. He offered no supporting evidence for the claim, which has been strongly disputed by the embassy in Dublin.

Was the letter really a big deal?

Speaking privately, former diplomats say the letter appears to be in line with standard letters of congratulation sent by the President to incoming heads of state. “Maybe in the circumstances ... [the] warmer language could have been toned down but there’s nothing extraordinary about it,” said one former senior Iveagh House official.

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Mr Higgins concluded the letter sending “my very best wishes for your endeavours, your hopes and all the challenges we face at this difficult time when we struggle for peace”.

Without comparing the President’s letter to others sent by his office to incoming heads of state, or others received by Iran, it is hard to say whether his is either representative or a departure from diplomatic norms. Certainly, the Government has backed the President’s view that this is a normal letter, both in public and private. Iran has said it received similar letters from other EU countries.

[ ‘Best wishes’ letter from President Higgins to Iran draws fire from Israel ]

Do we know how the letter became public?

We know that it wasn’t the Áras, anyway – it never posted it online. Screenshots on social media suggest the Iranian embassy in Dublin may have posted an image of the letter on July 28th on social media platform X but the tweet is no longer on the embassy’s account. The post depicted in the screenshots is no longer online, and the Iranian embassy has been asked if was taken down.

It has yet to reply to The Irish Times on the matter.

The embassy posted an entry on its own website on July 26th, disclosing that the letter had been sent and summarising its contents briefly, but didn’t publish the letter.

The Irish Times reported on the fallout from the letter, which had been brewing on social media in the previous days, on August 1st.

What’s the upshot of all of this?

Diplomatic relations between Ireland and Israel aren’t exactly great at the moment so it’s not as if this will make things any frostier. However, there is frustration within the Government at Higgins’s intervention – not for sending the letter itself, but the accusation that Israel was circulating the letter, characterised by one source as “conspiratorial”.

There are frustrations at the President’s judgment at a time when Ireland is trying to bring maximum pressure to bear for a ceasefire in Gaza and another front to the war appears to be opening in Lebanon – and a sense that he gave Israel a free hit to take the moral high ground with its denial of involvement in the letter’s release.

The President’s spokesman points out Mr Higgins said the embassy “circulated” the letter rather than leaked it.