The event organizers withdrew invitations for the Islamic Republic but allowed the exiled shah's son to attend

The Munich Security Conference (MSC) - once a serious international event - has turned into a "circus" that puts "performance over substance," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said.

This year's conference organizers withdrew invitations for senior Iranian officials following violent riots that gripped the Islamic Republic. Instead, the MSC invited Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran's late US-backed Shah, who was toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, to speak.

Pahlavi used the occasion to openly call on the West to bring about regime change in Iran, attended a major rally, and gave an interview to Reuters, urging the US to bomb his country instead of holding talks.

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"Sad to see the usually serious Munich Security Conference turned into the 'Munich Circus' when it comes to Iran," Araghchi said in a series of posts on X on Saturday. "The EU appears confused, rooted in an inability to understand what is happening inside Iran... An aimless EU has lost all geopolitical weight in our region."

"Europe's overall trajectory is dire, to say the least," the foreign minister added. The bloc is "an empty-handed and peripheral" force that is irrelevant to any serious international talks, particularly on the Iranian nuclear program.

Washington is seeking to pressure Iran into accepting a new nuclear deal, after US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 agreement (JCPOA) during his first term, reimposing sanctions on Iran under a "maximum pressure" campaign.

The decades of US sanctions were the primary driver of the country's economic deterioration that caused the initial protests late last year. The initial peaceful protest quickly escalated into widespread violence, claiming over 3,000 lives, with Iran accusing the US and Israel of fueling the unrest.

Earlier this week, Trump described regime change in the Islamic Republic as "the best thing that could happen." Moscow has called the escalation between the two nations "potentially explosive" and urged a peaceful solution.