The Mayor of the City of Brussels, who pressured the hotel hosting the National Conservatism conference not to do so, hosted the mayor of the Iranian capital in June 2023, it has emerged.
Mayor Philippe Close of the Socialist Party reportedly pushed the Concert Noble hotel to pull out from hosting the event a matter of days before it was due to start on April 16.
However, on June 12 2023 Close posted an image on X of a collection of mayors from around the world, including the mayor of Tehran, at the Brussels Urban Summit hosted at the Town Hall.
Tehran mayor Alireza Zakani was placed under sanctions by the UK in 2023 on the grounds that he had been “involved in the commission of serious human rights violations or abuses in Iran”. He was also reportedly an Iranian paramilitary prior to becoming the capital city’s mayor.
