Hungary offered to help Iran regime after Israel attack that blew up Hezbollah pagers, leaked press briefing shows
The revelation of a 2024 phone call in which the Hungarian foreign minister offered help to Tehran raises questions about Hungary's ties to Iran as the Trump administration backs Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Sunday's election, the Washington Post writes.
Viktor Orbán's government offered to support Iran, the main backer of Hezbollah, which the US considers a terrorist organization, shortly after Israel's attack that blew up thousands of Hezbollah operatives' pagers in September 2024.
“Our secret services have already contacted your services and we will share all the information we gathered during the investigation,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi on the phone, according to a copy of a Hungarian government transcript of the Sept. 30 conversation obtained and authenticated by a Western intelligence service and reviewed by The Washington Post.
“Every possible document will be shared with your services,” he added.
Hungary was in the spotlight at the time, as the Taiwanese company whose brand appeared on the devices told reporters they were manufactured by a Hungarian company under a licensing agreement.
Szijjarto was keen to stress to Araghchi that his country was not involved in any way in the September 17 attack in Lebanon, which killed 12 people and injured up to 2,800, and that the pagers were not manufactured in Hungary.
But Szijjarto's apparent willingness to curry favor with Iran's foreign minister raises questions about the Orbán government's relationship with Iran at a time when the Trump administration is at odds with Tehran and at the same time the White House is lending support to Orbán's re-election campaign, the Washington Post writes.
The call is also at odds with the Orbán government's official policy of supporting Israel. Like President Donald Trump, Netanyahu has also expressed public support for Orban.
Orbán's campaign has already been rocked by reports that his government is working with Moscow.
The transcript of the conversation between Szijjarto and Araghchi raises even more questions about the political alignments of the Orbán government, especially given that Moscow has a long-standing alliance with Iran.
When Araghchi replied that he was “very grateful for everything you've done,” Szijjarto said, “Of course, of course.” “If you need further information or want to contact me, I am always at your disposal,” he added.
A former White House official quoted by the Washington Post said that while it was not surprising that Hungary would seek to ease potential tensions with Iran over the pager attack, the call was at odds with Orban's open support for Israel.
“Hungary is one of the most pro-Israel countries in its official policy. It is one of the few countries that consistently votes with the US when the rest of Europe abstains,” the former official said.
“At the very least, it's blatantly against their policy. I couldn't imagine a British foreign secretary doing something like that,” he said.
