Minister in Brussels region government resigns over Tehran mayor invite Pascal Smet was criticized for inviting the ultra-conservative mayor of Tehran to the Brussels Urban Summit.

(Politico) Pascal Smet, foreign affairs minister of the region of Brussels, resigned on Sunday after coming under fire last week for inviting the ultra-conservative mayor of Tehran to the Brussels Urban Summit.

“I have decided to resign,” Smet, who is also urban planning chief for the Belgian capital, told a press conference on Sunday.

Smet, a Flemish socialist, created a controversy when he invited the Tehran mayor, Alireza Zakani, along with 14 Iranian officials and two Russian officials, to the Urban Summit, which ran June 12-15. The accommodation costs for these officials were paid by the Brussels region.

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