TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has severely criticized Poland for planning to host an anti-Iran conference upon a demand by the Trump administration, saying the Polish government “can't wash the shame”

In his tweet on Friday, Zarif reminded Warsaw of thousands of Polish refugees saved by Iran during the Second World War.

“Polish Govt. can't wash the shame: while Iran saved Poles in WWII, it now hosts desperate anti-Iran circus,” Zarif regretted.

During the World War II, up to two million Polish civilians were arrested by the Soviet secret police and deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan. Many did not survive the long journey (lasting many weeks) by cattle train; many more died during their imprisonment.

Others simply failed to get out after finally being freed from the Soviet gulags. A total of 120,000 Polish people, 3,000 of whom were orphans, escaped from the Soviet Union to Iran, starting a new life in Isfahan.

The Poles entered Iran from the port city of Anzali on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. Soviet ships docking in Anzali were packed with starving Polish refugees, and they were the lucky ones: Many others died along the way from typhus, typhoid and hunger.

Photos of the Poles and their graveyard in Iran were posted by Zarif in his Friday tweet.

SP/PA