Kenya has been sucked into the diplomatic hostilities between Iran and Israel over a visit by Iranian Iranian Vice President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari.
Sattari is leading a delegation of over 30 Iranian high-tech companies for bilateral talks with their Kenyan counterparts. He was received on Tuesday by Foreign Affairs CAS Ababu Namwamba.
But the Embassy of Israel has protested the visit, noting that it is happening on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is marked on January 27.
In a protest letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel said it was displeased that the Vice President of Iran will visit the country on the day, while “the same regime leads the Holocaust denial, while calling for the destruction of the State of Israel”.
The day commemorates the 1941-45 genocide in World War II, which resulted in the deaths of six million Jews and 11 million others by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.
Iran's position on the Holocaust has been controversial. For Instance, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad frequently claimed the Holocaust was a myth during his presidency 2005-2013.
In the protest letter, Israel said: “The Embassy notes that the Islamic Republic of Iran is an authoritarian, theocratic regime that strictly imposes Sharia Law in Iran and has been working to obtain nuclear weapons capabilities for over 20 years. The regime has become a force for destabilization and insurgency across the Middle East and Africa”.
“The Embassy therefore urges that Kenya, as an important international player, a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and a bold friends of Israel, utilizes its position to support efforts to diminish the dangers that Iran poses on the global security and stability”.
The mission also asked Kenya to express to the Iranian Vice President concerns over the threat the country “poses on world peace, its Holocaust denial and its alarming destabilizing role in the Middle East, Africa and other parts of the world”.
Attempts to get a comment from Iran embassy on the matter were futile.
The Iranian delegation is set to meet Kenya business community to strengthen trade relations between the two states.
In a statement on January 19, Iran embassy said the business trip will be aimed at enhancing economic interaction between the private sectors of the two countries in the area of high technologies.
In its efforts to increase trade ties with Kenya, Iran has established the Iran House of Innovation and Technology in Kilimani in Nairobi that will provide a platform for exchange of ideas.
The delegation of the Iranian knowledge-based firms in the fields of petrochemical, renewable energy, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and nanotechnology will tour the hub on Wednesday.
It is not the first time the Iran leader is visiting.
In October 2018, Sattari led a high-ranking delegation comprised of officials and heads of 45 knowledge-based companies to Kenya and Uganda for another business visit.
The Iranian government at the time said the tour was in line with export development and international business programmes for knowledge-based enterprises, “as part of the activities of Iran’s Science and Technology Vice-Presidency in support of these companies”.
In May 2012, Iran's Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi visited Kenya to complete a deal for Kenya to buy Iranian oil, but the agreement fell through as Kenya acted on warnings by Western states of sanctions.
