Hungary offered Iran help after Hezbollah blasts, exposing Orbán’s double game

On Sept. 30, 2024, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi that “our secret service has already contacted your services, and we will share all the information we gathered during the investigation.”

The exchange drew attention because Hungary had already come under scrutiny after the Taiwanese company behind the pager brand said the devices were made in Hungary under a licensing agreement, the Post said.

In the call, Szijjártó said Hungary had no role in the explosions, which killed 12 people and injured about 2,800. He also denied that the pagers were made in Hungary.

According to the transcript, Szijjártó told Araghchi: “I just wanted to personally inform you that our services have already contacted yours.”

When Araghchi said he was “very grateful to you for all this,” Szijjártó replied: “Absolutely, absolutely. If you need any additional information or want to get in touch with me, I am always at your service.”

Szijjártó also said that “these pagers are not manufactured in Hungary, they have never been in Hungary, and no Hungarian company has ever had any physical connection to these pagers.”

The call and Szijjártó’s offer raise uncomfortable questions about Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government’s ties with Iran at a time when, as the article notes, the United States is at war with Iran and the White House is backing Orbán’s election campaign.

The Post also said the call clashes with Budapest’s official pro-Israel line. Like U.S. President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly backed Orbán ahead of the election.

On Sept. 17, 2024, pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded across Beirut, and within hours reports said about 1,000 people were injured.

A day later, Reuters, citing a senior Lebanese security official and another informed source, reported that Israel’s Mossad had planted a small amount of explosives inside 5,000 Taiwanese pagers ordered by Hezbollah months before the blasts.

Later reporting put the toll at nine dead and about 3,000 wounded.

One source said explosives hidden in 3,000 pagers were detonated simultaneously after a coded message was sent. Another said Hezbollah had failed for months to detect up to three grams of explosives hidden inside each device.