Iranian MPs have been ridiculed for scrambling to take selfies with top EU diplomat Federica Mogherini, while she was visiting the country to attend the swearing in ceremony of President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday.
Photos show a number of Iranian politicians scrambling to get close to the Italian, some MPs going so far as to perch themselves on tables to get a snap with the diplomat. Iran's Fars news agency described their behavior as “strange.”
Many comments appeared on Iranian social media under the hashtag "selfies of humiliation." Some social media users mocked the politicians, with reference to famous films in which men - or rather dwarves in this case - fawn over a woman.
This popular tweet compared the commotion to the famous scene in the film ‘Malèna’, in which a group of men fall over themselves in an attempt to light Italian beauty Monica Bellucci’s cigarette.
The Ghanoon daily published a cartoon of Mogherini mocked up to resemble Edvard Munch’s painting ‘The Scream’ with MPs taking photos in the background.
Mogherini has long sought to strengthen ties between the Islamic Republic and the European Union. She has been praised for her negotiating skills which contributed to the 2015 international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.