Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has denounced statements by the European Union’s on human rights in Iran, claiming the bloc “lacks any moral standing” to lecture others on the matter, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reports.

It adds that Tehran’s top diplomat made the comments in a telephone conversation with his Greek counterpart, Georgios Gerapetritis, where both sides discussed bilateral relations and regional and international developments.

According to the report, Araghchi has criticised the EU’s “double standards and hypocrisy” regarding human rights, particularly support for Israel and “their (the EU) indifference toward the genocide of Palestinians and the war crimes committed by the Israeli regime in Lebanon and Iran”.

He additionally rejects the EU’s “interventionist statements” on human rights in Iran, declaring, “The European Union, due to its performance in the field of human rights, lacks any moral standing to lecture others,” Tasnim adds.